clinch
Use Clinch in a sentence
verb (used with object)
1.
to settle (a matter) decisively: After they clinched the deal they went out to celebrate.
2.
to secure (a nail, screw, etc.) in position by beating down the protruding point: He drove the nails through the board and clinched the points flat with a hammer.
3.
to fasten (objects) together by nails, screws, etc., secured in this manner.
4.
Nautical. to fasten by a clinch.
verb (used without object)
5.
Boxing. to engage in a clinch: The boxers clinched and were separated by the referee.
6.
Slang. to embrace, especially passionately.
7.
(of a clinched nail, screw, etc.) to hold fast; be secure.
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Clinch
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is lollygag. Does it mean:
| to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable. |
| to spend time idly; loaf. |
noun
8.
the act of clinching.
9.
Boxing. an act or instance of one or both boxers holding the other about the arms or body in order to prevent or hinder the opponent's punches.
10.
Slang. a passionate embrace.
11.
a clinched nail or fastening.
12.
the bent part of a clinched nail, screw, etc.
13.
a knot or bend in which a bight or eye is made by making a loop or turn in the rope and seizing the end to the standing part.
14.
Archaic. a pun.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To clinch
Collins
World English Dictionary
clinch (klɪntʃ) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —vb | |
| 1. | (tr) to secure (a driven nail) by bending the protruding point over |
| 2. | (tr) to hold together in such a manner: to clinch the corners of the frame |
| 3. | (tr) to settle (something, such as an argument, bargain, etc) in a definite way |
| 4. | (tr) nautical to fasten by means of a clinch |
| 5. | (intr) to engage in a clinch, as in boxing or wrestling |
| —n | |
| 6. | the act of clinching |
| 7. | a. a nail with its point bent over |
| b. the part of such a nail, etc, that has been bent over | |
| 8. | boxing, wrestling an act or an instance in which one or both competitors hold on to the other to avoid punches, regain wind, etc |
| 9. | slang a lovers' embrace |
| 10. | nautical a loop or eye formed in a line by seizing the end to the standing part. |
| [C16: variant of | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
clinch
1570, "clasp, interlock," var. of clench. The sense of "settle decisively" is first recorded 1716, from the notion of "clinching" the point of a nail to keep it fast. Boxing sense is from 1860.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary
clinch definition[klɪntʃ]
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Example sentences
He can't properly focus his moral argument or clinch the forced emotional transformations his characters make.
These newly discovered bacteria don't clinch this argument by any means.
But this does not clinch the case against profit in medicine.
Hour by hour the hand of the mason and the stuff of the mortar clinch the pieces and parts to the shape an architect voted.
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