I. clinch 1 /klɪntʃ/ BrE AmE verb
[ Date: 1500-1600 ; Origin: Probably from clench ]
1 . [transitive] to finally agree on something or get something after trying very hard:
a young salesman eager to clinch the deal
clinch a match/championship/victory etc
A last-minute touchdown clinched the game.
2 . clinch it informal if an event, situation, process etc clinches it, it makes someone finally decide to do something that they were already thinking of doing:
We’d talked about moving, and the burglary clinched it for us.
3 . [intransitive] if two people clinch, they hold each other’s arms tightly, especially when fighting
II. clinch 2 BrE AmE noun [countable]
1 . a situation in which two people hold each other’s arms tightly, especially when they are fighting
2 . a situation in which two people who love each other hold each other tightly SYN embrace