Present participle of beclasp; the act of fastening or holding something tightly.
Formed by adding the -ing suffix to beclasp. The -ing suffix comes from Old English -ing, originally a noun suffix that became used for present participles and gerunds around the Middle English period.
The -ing form is one of the most useful tricks in English: it lets one verb do the work of a whole phrase (instead of saying 'while he holds her,' you can say 'holding her'). That's why it's been around for over a thousand years and shows up in almost every sentence!
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