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cinch

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed from Occitan cencha, from Latin cincta, or from Spanish cincha (“a belt or girth”), from Late Latin cingula, from Latin cingulum. Doublet of cingle.

Noun

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cinch (plural cinches)

  1. A simple saddle girth used in Mexico.
    • 1915, B. M. Bower, The Flying U's Last Stand:
      He found Andy morosely replacing some broken strands in his cinch, and he went straight at the mooted question.
  3. (informal) Something that is very easy to do.
    • 1913, Major Archibald Lee Fletcher, Boy Scouts in the Coal Caverns:
      We thought we had a cinch on getting out by way of this cord and so we followed that.
    • 2003, Clive Selwood, All the Moves (but None of the Licks), page 33:
      The job was a snap. I travelled the country averaging a thousand miles a week and, since the previous incumbent had been a lazy bugger, managed to treble the business. It was a cinch.
  4. (informal) Something that is obvious or certain to occur; a sure thing.
    • 1916 March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post‎[1]:
      As a matter of fact, from the look of Elmer's shoulder, it wasn't a cinch that he would ever pitch again.
  5. (informal) A firm hold.
    • 1916, Gilbert Parker, The World For Sale,:
      You've got the cinch on him. You could send him to quod, and I'd send him there as quick as lightning. I'd hang him, if I could, for what he done to Lil Sarnia.
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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cinch (third-person singular simple present cinches, present participle cinching, simple past and past participle cinched)

  1. To bring to certain conclusion.
  2. To tighten down.
    • 1954, Troy Nesbit [pseudonym; Franklin Folsom], “Sacking Out”, in Sand Dune Pony (Wilderness Mysteries; 1), Racine, Wis.: Whitman Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 145:
      He let Sandy stand for a minute and then took the saddle off. Several more of these saddlings and unsaddlings followed. Then finally the saddle was cinched. Again Sandy repeated his pattern of calming down after the first unfamiliarity of a new experience had worn off. […] Before long Sandy accepted the saddle as if he’d been born with one on his back.
    • 2020 August 4, Richard Conniff, “They may look goofy, but ostriches are nobody’s fool”, in National Geographic Magazine‎[2]:
      [Ostriches] also lack the tiny hooks, or barbicels, that cinch feathers together in most other birds.
    • 2022, Amour Vincit Omnia, “Why The Price Of Love Is Pain”, in Agapé, volume 22, number 1, page 5:
      In our tiny 30-foot schooner, the 40-foot (think four stories high) waves looked more like giant mountains hurtling at us. I cinched the straps on my lifejacket a bit tighter and held on for dear life.
Quotations
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  • 1911, "I intend to cinch that government business." — Margaret Burnham, The Girl Aviators' Sky Cruise
  • 2016, Christopher Kelly, The Pink Bus, Mapple Shade, New Jersey: Lethe Press, page 49:
    "You know I've been thinking about your idea, and I think we should vote for each other," Patrick said, hoping that maybe this would be enough to cinch an actual friendship with Baffi--something that suddenly felt more important to Patrick than anything else in the world.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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Compare senses at etymology 1 (a girth, a tight grip), perhaps suggesting the tactics used in the game; or perhaps from Spanish cinco (“five”), the five spots of the colour of the trump being important cards.

Noun

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cinch (plural cinches)

  1. (card games) A variety of auction pitch in which a draw to improve the hand is added, and the five of trumps (called "right Pedro") and the five of the same colour (called "left Pedro", and ranking between the five and the four of trumps) are each worth five. Fifty-one points make a game.
Synonyms
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Verb

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cinch (third-person singular simple present cinches, present participle cinching, simple past and past participle cinched)

  1. (card games) In the game of cinch, to protect (a trick) by playing a higher trump than the five.

Etymology 3

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Uncertain; perhaps from Cinch Connectors, a Chicago-based company producing connectors.

Noun

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cinch

  1. (chiefly Europe, technology) An RCA connector.

Ladin

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Ladin cardinal numbers
 <  4 5 6  > 
    Cardinal : cinch
    Ordinal : cuint

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Inherited from Latin cīnque.

Adjective

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cinch

  1. five

Noun

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cinch m (uncountable)

  1. five

Lombard

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Etymology

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From Old Lombard zinqui, from Latin cīnque.

Numeral

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cinch

  1. Spelling alternative of çinc, five.
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