clenching

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of clench

plural clenchings

1. The act by which something (a fist, a jaw, etc.) is clenched.

   Many of the clenchings [of muscles] were uncoordinated, and one would guess that they occurred more and more as the sleep synchronized.

   1965, Edward J. Murray, Sleep, dreams, and arousal, page 151

comparative more clenching · superlative most clenching

1. alternativeAlternative form of clinching (“that settles something definitely”).

   Possibly I might be blamed a bit for my truantry, but the recapture of the Hispaniola was a clenching answer, and I hoped that even Captain Smollett would confess I had not lost my time.

   1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC