tr.v., claimed, claim·ing, claims.
- To demand, ask for, or take as one's own or one's due: claim a reward; claim one's luggage at the airport carousel.
- To take in a violent manner as if by right: a hurricane that claimed two lives.
- To state to be true, especially when open to question; assert or maintain: claimed he had won the race; a candidate claiming many supporters.
- To deserve or call for; require: problems that claim her attention.
- A demand for something as rightful or due.
- A basis for demanding something; a title or right.
- Something claimed in a formal or legal manner, especially a tract of public land staked out by a miner or homesteader.
- A demand for payment in accordance with an insurance policy or other formal arrangement.
- The sum of money demanded.
- A statement of something as a fact; an assertion of truth: makes no claim to be a cure.
lay claim to
- To assert one's right to or ownership of.
[Middle English claimen, from Old French clamer, claim-, from Latin clāmāre, to call.]
claimable claim'a·ble adj.claimer claim'er n.
SYNONYMS claim, pretense, pretension, title. These nouns refer to a legitimate or asserted right to demand something as one's due: had a legal claim to the property; makes no pretense to scholarliness; justified pretensions to the presidency; has no title to our thanks. See also synonyms at demand.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
