clenching

verb

1. (form-of, gerund, participle, present)present participle and gerund of clench

noun

1. The act by which something (a fist, a jaw, etc.) is clenched.

   “Many of the clenchings [of muscles] were uncoordinated, and one would guess that they occurred more and more as the sleep synchronized.”

adj

1. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of clinching (“that settles something definitely”).

   “Possibly I might be blamed a bit for my truantry, but the recapture of the Hispaniola was a clenching answer, and I hoped that even Captain Smollett would confess I had not lost my time.”