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.”