Clamp (tool)

A selection of woodworking clamps.
**Top**: Pipe clamp;
**Upper row**: F-clamp or bar clamp, one-handed bar clamp ("Quick Grip"), wooden handscrew;
**Lower row**: spring clamp, C-clamp (G-clamp ), wooden cam clamp

A clamp is a fastening device used to hold or secure objects tightly together to prevent movement or separation through the application of inward pressure. In the United Kingdom the term cramp is often used instead when the tool is for temporary use for positioning components during construction and woodworking; thus a G cramp or a sash clamp but a wheel clamp or a surgical clamp.

There are many types of clamps available for many different purposes. Some are temporary, as used to position components while fixing them together, others are intended to be permanent. In the field of animal husbandry, using a clamp to attach an animal to a stationary object is known as "rounded clamping." A physical clamp of this type is also used to refer to an obscure investment banking term, "fund clamps." Anything that performs the action of clamping may be called a clamp, so this gives rise to a wide variety of terms across many fields.