Definition of "clinch"

clinch

/klɪnt͡ʃ/

verb
third-person singular simple present clinches, present participle clinching, simple past and past participle clinched
1. To bend and hammer the point of (a nail) so it cannot be removed.
2. To clasp; to interlock.
  Quotations
  “Beloved shipmates, clinch the last verse of the first chapter of Jonah—‘And God had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.’”
  1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 9, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley
3. To fasten securely or permanently.
4. To make certain; to finalize.
  Quotations
  Vincent Kompany was sent off after conceding a penalty that was converted by Stephen Hunt to give Wolves hope. But Adam Johnson's curling shot in stoppage time clinched the points.
  2011 October 29, Neil Johnston, “Norwich 3 - 3 Blackburn”, in BBC Sport‎
5. To hold firmly; to clench
6. To set closely together; to close tightly.
  Quotations
  try if the heads of the nails be fast, and whether they be well clinched
  1731, Jonathan Swift, The Duty of Servants at Inns
7. To hold a boxing opponent with one or both arms so as to avoid being hit while resting momentarily
8. To secure a spot (e.g., at the divisional championship) before the end of regular season play by having an insurmountable lead.
  Quotations
  It put the U.S. on the brink of clinching a spot in the quarterfinals.
  2023 August 31, Seattle Times
9. To embrace passionately.
noun
plural clinches
1. Any of several fastenings.
2. The act or process of holding fast; that which serves to hold fast.
3. (obsolete) A pun.
4. (nautical) 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.
5. A passionate embrace.
  Quotations
  More likely, he was letting her know that his visit this morning was not going to end in a clinch—or something steamier. It was going to be about sitting at a table, drinking coffee and talking.
  2015, Judith Arnold, Moondance
  So, then, to the health secretary’s “steamy clinch” with Gina Coladangelo, the lobbyist and long-term friend he took on as an aide last year […]
  2021 June 25, Marina Hyde, “Matt Hancock, the one-time sex cop now busted for a dodgy clinch”, in The Guardian‎
6. (wrestling, combat sports) The act of one or both fighters holding onto the other to prevent being hit or engage in standup grappling.
7. (slang, archaic) A prison sentence.
  Quotations
  COOMBE: He got the clinch only last week — eighteen months. You see it's no good having anybody here as ain't got a unblemished character. We don't want to have the bluebottles come sniffing round here, do we?
  1882, Henry Herman, Henry Arthur Jones, The Silver King