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A ledge; a right-angled projection.

An esculent swallow.

A pin used to prevent the wheel of a vehicle from sliding off the axletree.

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 show signs of yielding or of suffering; to shrink; to wince; as, one of the parties flinched from the combat. A child, by a constant course of kindness, may be accustomed to bear very rough usage without flinching or complaining. Locke.

One who flinches or fails.

In a flinching manner.

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

Not flinching or shrinking; unyielding. -- Un*flinch"ing*ly, adv.

A tube for drawing liquors from a cask by the bunghole. [Written also velinche.]

To shrink; to start back; to draw back, from lack of courage or resolution; to flinch; to quail. Blench not at thy chosen lot. Bryant. This painful, heroic task he undertook, and never blenched from its fulfillment. Jeffrey.

One who blenches, flinches, or shrinks back.

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.

o 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.

A cotter or split pin, as in a slot in a bolt, to prevent retraction; a linchpin; a pin fastening the cap-square of a gun. Forelock bolt, a bolt retained by a key, gib, or cotter passing through a slot. -- Forelock hook (Rope Making), a winch or whirl by which a bunch of three yarns is twisted into a standard. Knight.…