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third-person singular simple present clenches, present participle clenching, simple past and past participle clenched
To grip or hold fast. quotations examples
Clinch the pointed spear.
1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]
To close tightly. quotations examples
[She] flung herself / Down on the great King's couch, and writhed upon it, / And clench'd her fingers till they bit the palm, / And shriek'd out 'traitor' to the unhearing wall, […]
1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Elaine”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], page 179
plural clenches
A tight grip. examples
(engineering) A seal that is applied to formed thin-wall bushings. examples
A local chapter of the Church of the SubGenius parody religion. quotations examples
And perhaps most innovative of all, Drummond and Stang pushed for a policy of clench autonomy […]
1989, Ted Schultz, The Fringes of Reason, page 210
Every SubGenius clench is required to have a member who does not believe […]
2003, Peter Knight, Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia, page 170
Originality is encouraged, and some clenches have devised their own distinctive organizational names […]
2012, George D. Chryssides, Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements, page 95
(archaic) A pun quotations
Here one poor word an hundred clenches makes
1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the First”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd, page 1