clinch

16th-century alteration of clench.

• IPA^(key): /klɪnt͡ʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪntʃ

clinch (third-person singular simple present clinches, present participle clinching, simple past and past participle clinched)

1. To bend and hammer the point of (a nail) so it cannot be removed. [from 1560s]
2. To clasp; to interlock.
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 9, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     “Beloved shipmates, clinch the last verse of the first chapter of Jonah—‘And God had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.’”

3. To fasten securely or permanently.
4. To make certain; to finalize. [from 1716]

   I already planned to buy the car, but the color was what really clinched it for me.

   • 2011 October 29, Neil Johnston, “Norwich 3 - 3 Blackburn”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Vincent Kompany was sent off after conceding a penalty that was converted by Stephen Hunt to give Wolves hope. But Adam Johnson's curling shot in stoppage time clinched the points.

5. To hold firmly; to clench

   Synonyms: clasp, grasp, grip; see also Thesaurus:grasp

6. To set closely together; to close tightly.

   Synonyms: attach, join, put together; see also Thesaurus:join

   to clinch the teeth or the fist

   • 1731 (date written, published 1745), Jonathan Swift, “[Directions to Servants.] The Duty of Servants at Inns.”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume XVI, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 175:

     [T]ry if the heads of the nails [of horseshoes] be fast, and whether they be well clinched; if not, send presently for a smith; always stand by while the smith is employed.

7. To hold a boxing opponent with one or both arms so as to avoid being hit while resting momentarily [1860s]
8. To secure a spot (e.g., at the divisional championship) before the end of regular season play by having an insurmountable lead.
   • 2023 August 31, Seattle Times:

     It put the U.S. on the brink of clinching a spot in the quarterfinals.

9. To embrace passionately.

clinch (plural clinches)

1. Any of several fastenings.
2. The act or process of holding fast; that which serves to hold fast.

   Synonyms: grip, grasp

   to get a good clinch of an antagonist, or of a weapon

   to secure anything by a clinch

3. (obsolete) A pun.
4. (nautical) A hitch or bend by which a rope is made fast to the ring of an anchor, or the breeching of a ship's gun to the ringbolts.
5. A passionate embrace.
   • 2015, Judith Arnold, Moondance:

     More likely, he was letting her know that his visit this morning was not going to end in a clinch—or something steamier. It was going to be about sitting at a table, drinking coffee and talking.

   • 2021 June 25, Marina Hyde, “Matt Hancock, the one-time sex cop now busted for a dodgy clinch”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     So, then, to the health secretary’s “steamy clinch” with Gina Coladangelo, the lobbyist and long-term friend he took on as an aide last year […]

6. (wrestling, combat sports) The act of one or both fighters holding onto the other to prevent being hit or engage in standup grappling.
7. (slang, archaic) A prison sentence.
   • 1882, Henry Herman, Henry Arthur Jones, The Silver King:

     COOMBE: He got the clinch only last week — eighteen months. You see it's no good having anybody here as ain't got a unblemished character. We don't want to have the bluebottles come sniffing round here, do we?

• clinch-built

• → Czech: klinč
• → German: Clinch
• → French: clinch
• → Portuguese: clinche
• → Russian: клинч (klinč)
• → Serbo-Croatian: klȉnč
• → Polish: klincz
• → Swedish: klinch

• clench
• clincher
• clinch nut

• clinch on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Borrowed from English clinch.

• IPA^(key): /klintʃ/, /klinʃ/

clinch m (plural clinchs)

1. clinch