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Entry 8 senses · 3 variants Webster, 1913

Clinch

/(klĭnch; 224)/ · IPA /klɪnt͡ʃ/
01 v. t. To hold firmly; to hold fast by grasping or embracing tightly.
imp. & p. p. Clinched; p. pr. & vb. n. Clinching
  1. 1.
    To hold firmly; to hold fast by grasping or embracing tightly.
  2. 2.
    To set closely together; to close tightly; as, to clinch the teeth or the first.
  3. 3.
    To bend or turn over the point of (something that has been driven through an object), so that it will hold fast; as, to clinch a nail.
  4. 4.
    To make conclusive; to confirm; to establish; as, to clinch an argument.
02 v. i. To hold fast; to grasp something firmly; to seize or grasp one another.
  1. 1.
    To hold fast; to grasp something firmly; to seize or grasp one another.
03 n. The act or process of holding fast; that which serves to hold fast; a grip; a grasp; a clamp; a holdfast; as, to get a good clinch of an an…
  1. 1.
    The act or process of holding fast; that which serves to hold fast; a grip; a grasp; a clamp; a holdfast; as, to get a good clinch of an antagonist, or of a weapon; to secure anything by a clinch.
  2. 2.
    A pun.
  3. 3.
    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.(Naut.)