clench

verb

1. (ambitransitive)To grip or hold fast.

   “I clenched the rope in my teeth.”

   “Clinch the pointed spear.”

2. (ambitransitive)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, […]”

3. (alt-of, alternative, ambitransitive)Alternative form of clinch (“bend and hammer a nail”).
4. (alt-of, ambitransitive, dated)Dated form of clinch (“make certain, finalize”).

   “to clench an argument”

noun

1. (ambitransitive)A tight grip.
2. (alt-of, alternative, ambitransitive)Alternative form of clinch (“the act of bending and hammering the point of a nail so it cannot be removed”).
3. (ambitransitive)A seal that is applied to formed thin-wall bushings.
4. (ambitransitive)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 […]”

   “Originality is encouraged, and some clenches have devised their own distinctive organizational names […]”

5. (ambitransitive, obsolete)A pun.

   “Here one poor word an hundred clenches makes”