From Middle English clenchen, from Old English clenċan (“to clinch; hold fast”), a variant of Old English clenġan (“to adhere; remain”), from Proto-Germanic *klangijaną, causative of *klinganą (“to stick; adhere”). Related to cling.
Meanings
(ambitransitive) A tight grip.
(alt-of, alternative, ambitransitive) Alternative form of clinch (“the act of bending and hammering the point of a nail so it cannot be removed”).
(ambitransitive) A seal that is applied to formed thin-wall bushings.
(ambitransitive) A local chapter of the Church of the SubGenius parody religion.
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:
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:
(ambitransitive, obsolete) A pun.
Here one poor word an hundred clenches makes 1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the First”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC, page 1:
From Middle English clenchen, from Old English clenċan (“to clinch; hold fast”), a variant of Old English clenġan (“to adhere; remain”), from Proto-Germanic *klangijaną, causative of *klinganą (“to stick; adhere”). Related to cling.
Meanings
(ambitransitive) To grip or hold fast.
I clenched the rope in my teeth.
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, […], →OCLC:
(ambitransitive) To close tightly.
He clenched his fist in anger.
[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., […], →OCLC, page 179:
(alt-of, alternative, ambitransitive) Alternative form of clinch (“bend and hammer a nail”).
Captain Treverton, it is hardly necessary to say, was not long in clenching the bargain on his side. The estate changed hands; […] 1875, Wilkie Collins, The Dead Secret, page 45: