Other forms: clenched, clenching, clenches
To clench is to close your hand or your jaw tightly. Usually in anger, and usually without deciding to.
Fists and teeth are what clench, and both are involuntary signs of tension that other people read instantly. A clenched jaw is one of the standard descriptions of somebody holding their temper. It also works on the stomach, which clenches with fear. As a noun it is rare. Take care with clinch, which is a different word meaning to settle something conclusively.
1verbclenchTo close the hand or jaw tightly, especially in tension.
“He clenched his fists and said nothing.”
Clench and cling are one idea. Old English clenċan meant to hold fast, formed from a verb meaning to stick or adhere, so a clenched fist is simply one that will not let go.
Old English
clenċan — to clinch; hold fast
Middle English
clenchen
English, today
clench
Built from
From Middle English clenchen, from Old English clenċan (“to clinch; hold fast”), a variant of Old English clenġan (“to adhere; remain”), from Proto-Germanic klangijaną, causative of klinganą (“to stick; adhere”). Related to cling.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Man Called Ove, Holding & Carrying
First appears in chapter 5 of A Man Called Ove.
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