clench

present singular third person clenches · participle present clenching · participle past clenched · past clenched

1. ambitransitiveTo grip or hold fast.

   I clenched the rope in my teeth.

   1 more example

   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

2. ambitransitiveTo close tightly.

   He clenched his fist in anger.

   1 more example

   [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

3. alternativeambitransitiveAlternative form of clinch (“bend and hammer a nail”).
4. ambitransitivedatedDated form of clinch (“make certain, finalize”).

   to clench an argument

   1 more example

   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

plural clenches

1. ambitransitiveA tight grip.
2. alternativeambitransitiveAlternative form of clinch (“the act of bending and hammering the point of a nail so it cannot be removed”).
3. ambitransitiveengineeringA seal that is applied to formed thin-wall bushings.
4. ambitransitiveA 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

   2 more 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

   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

5. ambitransitiveobsoleteA 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

   Synonyms: clinch