clench
verb
- hold together very tightly
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L318168 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /klɛnt͡ʃ/
noun
Etymology: 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.
- A tight grip.
- Alternative form of clinch (“the act of bending and hammering the point of a nail so it cannot be removed”).
- A seal that is applied to formed thin-wall bushings.
- A local chapter of the Church of the SubGenius parody religion.
“And perhaps most innovative of all, Drummond and Stang pushed for a policy of clench autonomy […]”
“Every SubGenius clench is required to have a member who does not believe […]”
- A pun.
“Here one poor word an hundred clenches makes”
verb
Etymology: 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.
- To grip or hold fast.
“I clenched the rope in my teeth.”
“Clinch the pointed spear.”
- 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, […]”
- Alternative form of clinch (“bend and hammer a nail”).
- Dated form of clinch (“make certain, finalize”).
“to clench an argument”