eggcorn

[Mark Mandel]

On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 9:26 AM, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu> wrote:

> of course there might be people who associate this use with one or
> another of the senses of "clinch":
>   confirm or settle (a contract or bargain)
>   conclusively settle (an argument or debate)
>   confirm the winning or acievement of (a game, competition, or
> victory)
>   secure (a nail or rivet) by driving the point sideways when it has
> penetrated
> (from NOAD2)
>

-- of which the 4th, 'secure (a nail or rivet)', has some semantic overlap
to support the association: 'hold two things together forcefully'.

--
Mark Mandel

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