A clip is a small thing that holds other things together by gripping them — a paper clip on a stack of letters, a hair clip, the clip on a pen that keeps it in your pocket. You clip a badge to your jacket, and it stays there.
As a verb clip also means to cut, neatly and a little at a time: you clip a hedge, clip your nails, clip a coupon out of a newspaper. From that cutting comes the other noun: a clip is a short piece cut from a film or a video, and a clip of the goal was everywhere by the evening. The holding clip and the cutting clip came into English separately and only look like one word.
1nounclipA small device that holds things together by gripping them.
“She held the pages together with a clip.”
2verbcutTo cut something neatly, taking off small pieces with scissors or shears.
“He clips the hedge every few weeks through the summer.”
3nounfilmA short part of a film or a video, shown on its own.
“The news showed a clip from the new film.”
4verbfastenTo fasten something in place with a small gripping device.
“Clip the microphone to your collar before you go on.”