Clips

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /klɪps/

Definitions

1. Small objects used to hold things together tightly ; brief excerpts taken from longer visual recordings ; to cut something by removing small parts from its edges or surface
2. Devices that attach items securely in place ; short portions of movies or videos extracted separately ; to trim or prune by cutting off unwanted pieces
3. Tools or attachments that fasten objects quickly ; concise parts of recorded footage ; the act of shortening something by cutting it

Etymology: The word "clips" is simply the plural of "clip," and the noun "clip" for a fastener or a short extract is a later extension of a verb with a more physical sense. Middle English "clippen" meant "to embrace," coming from Old English "clyppan," which meant "to hug, embrace, cherish, clasp." That sense goes back to a Proto-Germanic root linked to ideas of a lump or clump, so the original image is of gripping something tightly, like a clod being squeezed together. The cutting sense is a separate line. Middle English "clippen" also borrowed from Old Norse "klippa," meaning "to cut the hair" or "to shear sheep." Over time the two verbs merged in English, so the word that once meant to hug also came to mean to snip. The fastener sense, with its idea of gripping something in place, fits the older embracing meaning more naturally than the shearing one.

Synonyms: snips, cuts, trims, slices, shavings