SG Heritage Dictionary

Clinch [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. A word used in a double meaning; a pun; an ambiguity; a duplicity of meaning, with identity of expression.

2. Here one poor word a hundred clinches makes.

3. A witty, ingenious reply.

4. In seamens language, the part of a cable which is fastened to the ring of an anchor; a kind of knot and seizings, used to fasten a cable to the ring of an anchor, and the britching of a gun to the ring bolts in a ships side.

Clinch [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. To gripe with the hand; to make fast by bending over, folding, or embracing closely. Thus, to clinch a nail, is to bend the point and drive it closely. To clinch the hand or fist, is to contract the fingers closely into the palm of the hand. To clinch an instrument, is to close the fingers and thumb round it, and hold it fast.

2. To fix or fasten; to make firm; as, to clinch an argument.

Clinch [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

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. A pun.

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.

Clinch [Verb intransitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

To hold fast; to grasp something firmly; to seize or grasp one another.

Clinch [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. To hold firmly; to hold fast by grasping or embracing tightly.

2. To set closely together; to close tightly; as, to clinch the teeth or the first.

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. To make conclusive; to confirm; to establish; as, to clinch an argument.

Clinched [Participle passive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

Made fast by doubling or embracing closely.

Clinched [Imperfect tense and past participle] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Clinch

Clincher [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. That which clinches; a cramp or piece of iron bent down to fasten any thing.

2. One who makes a smart reply.

3. That which makes fast.

Clincher [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

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

2. That which ends a dispute or controversy; a decisive argument.

Clincher-built [\N] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. CLINCHER-BUILT ,

2. CLINCHER-WORK, noun In ship building, the disposition of the planks in the side of a boat or vessel, when the lower edge of every plank overlays the next below it, like slates on the roof a house.

Clincher-built [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

See Clinker-built.

Clinching [Participle present tense] Webster's Dictionary 1828

Making fast by doubling over or embracing closely; griping with the fist.

Clinching [Present participle and verbal noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Clinch