Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CLINCH, n.

1. A word used in a double meaning; a pun; an ambiguity; a duplicity of meaning, with identity of expression. – Johnson. Here one poor word a hundred clinches makes. – Pope.
2. A witty, ingenious reply. – Bailey.
3. In seamen's language, the part of a cable which is fastened to the ring of an anchor; a kind of knot and seizings, used to fasten a cable to the ring of an anchor, and the breeching of a gun to the ring bolts in a ship's side. – Mar. Dict.