Talk:clench

clinch
I spotted the use of clench below, where it seems to mean : I'm not sure whether this is a general alternative spelling, or a dialect rendering (since much of this novel's dialogue is written in Irish dialect).


 * 1) * 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard
 * 'Nothing, as I suppose; I'll see her to-day; there's nothing to tell; but something, I think, to be done; it hasn't been set about rightly; 'tis a botched business hitherto—that's in my judgment.' 'Yet 'tis rather a strong case,' answered Mr. Lowe, superciliously. 'Rather a strong case, so it is, but I'll clench it, Sir; it ought to be certain.'

Equinox ◑ 17:35, 3 June 2018 (UTC)

RFV discussion: December 2018–January 2019
Sense 1 says "To squeeze; to grip or hold tightly"; that's fine. I am challenging sense 2: "To move two parts of something against each other", with the example of bruxism. I think this is a confusion: bruxism requires clenching the jaw so that the teeth can make contact, but the subsequent friction/rubbing is not the clenching part. I checked a recent Chambers Dictionary (c.2005) and it has no such sense. Equinox ◑ 08:57, 1 December 2018 (UTC)
 * I agree. This might be a job for the OED.
 * Also, the entry could stand some revision. It misses senses, eg clinch/clench a nail, omits transitive/intransitive distinctions, etc. shows the number and complexity of older senses. DCDuring (talk) 16:53, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

RFV-failed Kiwima (talk) 19:32, 3 January 2019 (UTC)