clench

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to squeeze together tightly

   They clenched their jaw instead of saying something hurtful.

2. 2
   verb

   to hold in a tight grasp

   Don't clench the steering wheel.

3. 3
   verb

   To grip or hold fast.

   I clenched the rope in my teeth.

4. 4
   verb

   To close tightly.

   He clenched his fist in anger.

5. 5
   verb

   Dated form of clinch (“make certain, finalize”).

   to clench an argument

6. 6
   noun

   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 […]

7. 7
   noun

   A pun.

   Here one poor word an hundred clenches makes

8. 8
   noun

   the act of grasping

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.