clinch

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
clinch/klɪntʃ/

▶verb

• 1 conclusively settle (a contract, contest, or debate).

• 2 secure (a nail or rivet) by driving the point sideways when it has penetrated.

• 3 grapple at close quarters.

  ■ (of two people) embrace.

• 4 fasten (a rope or angling line) with a clinch knot.

▶noun

• 1 a struggle at close quarters.

  ■ an embrace.

• 2 (also clinch knot) a knot used to fasten ropes or angling lines, using a half hitch with the end seized back on its own part.

– origin C16: var. of clench.