Search the Dictionary

To hold firmly; to hold fast by grasping or embracing tightly. "Clinch the pointed spear." Dryden.

One who, or that which, clinches; that which holds fast. Pope.

See Clinker-built.

To cause to be no longer clinched; to open; as, to unclinch the fist. [Written also unclench.]

See Clinch.

A gripe or clinching with, or as with, the fingers or claws; seizure; grasp. "The clutch of poverty." Cowper. An expiring clutch at popularity. Carlyle. But Age, with his stealing steps, Hath clawed me in his clutch. Shak.

to fold one part upon another part of; as, to double the leaf of a book, and the like; to clinch, as the fist; -- often followed by up; as, to double up a sheet of paper or cloth. Prior. Then the old man Was wroth, and doubled up his hands. Tennyson.

To fix one's self; to take firm hold; to clinch; to cling. A horse leech will hardly fasten on a fish. Sir T. Browne.

The hand with the fingers doubled into the palm; the closed hand, especially as clinched tightly for the purpose of striking a blow. Who grasp the earth and heaven with my fist. Herbert.

to secure and hold in place something else, as a long fiat-headed nail, a catch a hook, a clinch, a clamp, etc.; hence, a support. "His holdfast was gone." Bp. Montagu.

own the point so that it shall spread out and form a second head; a pin or bolt headed or clinched at both ends. With busy hammers closing rivets up. Shak. Rivet joint, or Riveted joint, a joint between two or more pieces secured by rivets.

The act of joining with rivets; the act of spreading out and clinching the end, as of a rivet, by beating or pressing.

A copper washer upon which the end of a nail is clinched in boat building.

an occasional comment. (c) To add without enumeration or valuation, as something extra to clinch a bargain. -- To throw off. (a) To expel; to free one's self from; as, to throw off a disease. (b) To reject; to discard; to abandon; as, to throw off all sense of shame; to throw off a dependent. (c) To make a start in a…

Same as Unclinch.