clinch

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To fix or secure (a nail or bolt, for example) by bending down or flattening the pointed end that protrudes.
2. v. To fasten together in this way.
3. v. To settle definitely and conclusively; make final: "The cocktail circuit is a constant and more contracts are clinched over pâté than over paper” ( Ann L. Trebbe).
4. v. Sports To secure (a divisional championship, for instance) before the end of regular season play by having an insurmountable lead.
5. v. Nautical To fasten with a clinch.
6. v. To be held together securely.
7. v. Sports To hold a boxing opponent's body with one or both arms to prevent or hinder punches.
8. v. Slang To embrace amorously.
9. n. Something, such as a clamp, that clinches.
10. n. The clinched part of a nail, bolt, or rivet.
11. n. Sports An act or instance of clinching in boxing.
12. n. Nautical A knot in a rope made by a half hitch with the end of the rope fastened back by seizing. Also called clench.
13. n. Slang An amorous embrace.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. See clench.

Wiktionary

1. v. To fasten securely or permanently.
2. v. To embrace passionately.
3. n. Any of several fastenings.
4. n. The act or process of holding fast; that which serves to hold fast; a grip or grasp.
5. n. obsolete A pun.
6. n. 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.
7. n. A passionate embrace.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To hold firmly; to hold fast by grasping or embracing tightly.
2. v. To set closely together; to close tightly.
3. v. To bend or turn over the point of (something that has been driven through an object), so that it will hold fast.
4. v. To make conclusive; to confirm; to establish.
5. v. To hold fast; to grasp something firmly; to seize or grasp one another.
6. n. The act or process of holding fast; that which serves to hold fast; a grip; a grasp; a clamp; a holdfast.
7. n. A pun.
8. n. (Naut.) 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.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. secure or fasten by flattening the ends of nails or bolts
2. n. a tight or amorous embrace
3. v. embrace amorously
4. n. a device (generally used by carpenters) that holds things firmly together
5. v. flatten the ends (of nails and rivets)
6. v. hold a boxing opponent with one or both arms so as to prevent punches
7. v. hold in a tight grasp
8. n. a small slip noose made with seizing
9. n. (boxing) the act of one boxer holding onto the other to avoid being hit and to rest momentarily
10. v. settle conclusively
11. n. the flattened part of a nail or bolt or rivet