Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Clinch

Clinch (klinch; 224) , transitive verb

[Old English clenchen, prop. causative of clink to cause to clink, to strike; compare Dutch klinken to tinkle, rivet. See Clink.]

1.
To hold firmly; to hold fast by grasping or embracing tightly.
Clinch the pointed spear. — Dryden
2.
To set closely together; to close tightly; as, to clinch the teeth or the first. — Swift
3.
To bend or turn over the point of (something that has been driven through an object), so that it will hold fast; as, to clinch a nail.
4.
To make conclusive; to confirm; to establish; as, to clinch an argument. — South

Clinch , intransitive verb

To hold fast; to grasp something firmly; to seize or grasp one another.

Clinch (klinch) , noun

1.
The act or process of holding fast; that which serves to hold fast; a grip; a grasp; a clamp; a holdfast; as, to get a good clinch of an antagonist, or of a weapon; to secure anything by a clinch.
2.
A pun. — Pope
3.
(Nautical) A hitch or bend by which a rope is made fast to the ring of an anchor, or the breeching of a ship's gun to the ringbolts.