Clinch \Clinch\ (kl[i^]nch), n.

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. --Pope.

3. (Naut.) 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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Clinch \Clinch\ (kl[i^]nch; 224), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Clinched; p. pr. & vb. n. Clinching.]

[OE. clenchen, prop. causative of clink to cause to clink, to strike; cf. D. klinken to tinkle, rivet. See Clink.]

1. To hold firmly; to hold fast by grasping or embracing tightly. ``Clinch the pointed spear.'' --Dryden.

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

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. --South.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Clinch \Clinch\, v. i. To hold fast; to grasp something firmly; to seize or grasp one another.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)