cinch

plural cinches

1. A simple saddle girth used in Mexico.

   He found Andy morosely replacing some broken strands in his cinch, and he went straight at the mooted question.

   1915, B. M. Bower, The Flying U's Last Stand

2. informalSomething that is very easy to do.

   We thought we had a cinch on getting out by way of this cord and so we followed that.

   1913, Major Archibald Lee Fletcher, Boy Scouts in the Coal Caverns

   2 more examples

   The job was a snap. I travelled the country averaging a thousand miles a week and, since the previous incumbent had been a lazy bugger, managed to treble the business. It was a cinch.

   2003, Clive Selwood, All the Moves (but None of the Licks), page 33

   Suddenly, being a mom was everything it was advertised to be. Zelly settled into being such a happy, well-behaved infant that she became what Shannon calls a “decoy baby”—the kind that tricks other young couples into thinking that having kids is a cinch.

   2015, Steve Silberman, chapter 2, in Megan Newman, editor, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, New York: Avery, →ISBN, page 55

   Synonyms: piece of cake

3. informalSomething that is obvious or certain to occur; a sure thing.

   As a matter of fact, from the look of Elmer's shoulder, it wasn't a cinch that he would ever pitch again.

   1916 March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post

   Synonyms: sure thing

4. informalA firm hold.

   You've got the cinch on him. You could send him to quod, and I'd send him there as quick as lightning. I'd hang him, if I could, for what he done to Lil Sarnia.

   1916, Gilbert Parker, The World For Sale,

present singular third person cinches · participle present cinching · participle past cinched · past cinched

1. To bring to certain conclusion.
2. To tighten down.

   [Ostriches] also lack the tiny hooks, or barbicels, that cinch feathers together in most other birds.

   2020 August 4, Richard Conniff, “They may look goofy, but ostriches are nobody’s fool”, in National Geographic Magazine

   2 more examples

   He let Sandy stand for a minute and then took the saddle off. Several more of these saddlings and unsaddlings followed. Then finally the saddle was cinched. Again Sandy repeated his pattern of calming down after the first unfamiliarity of a new experience had worn off. […] Before long Sandy accepted the saddle as if he’d been born with one on his back.

   1954, Troy Nesbit [pseudonym; Franklin Folsom], “Sacking Out”, in Sand Dune Pony (Wilderness Mysteries; 1), Racine, Wis.: Whitman Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 145

   In our tiny 30-foot schooner, the 40-foot (think four stories high) waves looked more like giant mountains hurtling at us. I cinched the straps on my lifejacket a bit tighter and held on for dear life.

   2022, Amour Vincit Omnia, “Why The Price Of Love Is Pain”, in Agapé, volume 22, number 1, page 5

1. uncountablecard gamesA variety of auction pitch in which a draw to improve the hand is added, and the five of trumps (called "right Pedro") and the five of the same colour (called "left Pedro", and ranking between the five and the four of trumps) are each worth five. Fifty-one points make a game.

   Synonyms: double Pedro, high five

present singular third person cinches · participle present cinching · participle past cinched · past cinched

1. card gamesIn the game of cinch, to protect (a trick) by playing a higher trump than the five.

1. EuropeengineeringAn RCA connector.