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Webster 1828 Edition


Clinching

CLINCHING

,
ppr.
Making fast by doubling over or embracing closely; griping with the fist.

Definition 2024


clinching

clinching

English

Verb

clinching

  1. present participle of clinch

Adjective

clinching (not comparable)

  1. That settles something (such as an argument) definitely and conclusively
    • 1872, Thomas Hardy, Under the Greenwood Tree, Part 2, Chapter 8,
      “Yes,” said Dick, with such a clinching period at the end that it seemed he was never going to add another word.
    • 1921, Edwin Arlington Robinson, “Imogen” in Collected Poems, lines 113-119,
      There were no dreams,
      No phantoms in her future any more:
      One clinching revelation of what was
      One by-flash of irrevocable chance,
      Had acridly but honestly foretold
      The mystical fulfilment of a life
      That might have once … But that was all gone by
    • 1960, “Breaking the Fast,” Time, 22 February, 1960,
      He shocked his hearers by urging them not to fast during Ramadan, which begins Feb. 29. As a clinching argument, Bourguiba recalled that even Mohammed, when inconveniently overtaken by Ramadan on his march to Mecca, counseled his soldiers: “Break the fast, and you will be stronger to confront the enemy.”