1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Clift, verb (thieves’).—To steal. For synonyms, see Prig.
Climb Down, subs. and verb (colloquial).—The abandonment of a position;
downward or retrograde motion; the act of surrender. At first American.
1871. Rev. H. W. Beecher, Star Papers, p. 41, quoted in De Vere’s
Americanisms. To climb down the wall was easy enough, too easy for
a man who did not love wetting. Ibid. I partly climbed down, and
wholly clambered back again, satisfied that it was easier to get
myself in than to get the flowers out.
1889 St. James’s Gazette, 22 Nov., p. 12, col. 2. I am particularly
pleased (adds our correspondent) with the noble conduct of the
Bread Union, the first to climb down, and the promptest to send in
its little bill.
1890. Globe, 7 April, p. 2, col. 2. It is satisfactory to learn on
no less an authority than that of the New York Herald that the
general election may at the moment be regarded remote. This is
indeed a climb down on the part of the chief disseminator of the
Dissolution rumour.
1890. Globe, 19 Feb., p. 2, col. 2. Mr. MacNeill’s ‘personal
statement’ in the House yesterday was distinctly in the nature of a
climb down.
Clinch, subs. (thieves’).—A prison cell. [? From clinch, to clutch,
grip, and hold fast. Cf., Clink.] Variants in English are box, cob,
salt-box, chokey and shoe. Fr., une cachemitte, une cachemar or
cachemince (all thieves’, from cachot, ‘a black hole’); also un clou
(military); maison de campagne (military); un mazaro, or lazaro; une
matatane (military); un ours (popular); un abattoir (thieves’; properly
‘a slaughter house.’ This last, the name of the condemned cell in the
prison of La Roquette, corresponds to the Newgate Salt Box). In German:
Näck (only in Zimmermann; single cell in a prison; probably from the
U.G. Noche and the M.H.G. Nacke = boat, from its shape; derivation from
the Hebrew Nekef = hole, is also possible).
To get or kiss the Clinch or Clink, verbal phr. (thieves’).—To be
imprisoned. For synonyms, see Cop.
1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., p. 102. s.v.
Clincher or Clencher, subs. (colloquial).—1. That which decides a
matter, especially a retort which closes an argument; a ‘finisher,’
‘settler,’ ‘corker.’ [From clinch, ‘to secure or make fast,’ through
its obsolete meaning of ‘to pun or quibble,’ + er.]
1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. Clincher ... an unanswerable reason or
argument.
1839. Pierce Egan, Finish to Life in London, p. 13. Death comes but
once, the Philosophers say And ’tis true my brave boys, but that
once is a clencher It takes us from drinking and loving away And
spoils at a blow the best tippler and wencher.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xvi., p. 136. ‘Why cannot I
communicate with the young lady’s friends?’ ‘Because they live one
hundred miles from here, sir,’ responded Job Trotter. ‘That’s a
clincher,’ said Mr. Weller, aside.
2. (common).—An unsurpassed lie; a ‘stopper-up,’ [This sense flows
naturally from sense 1 and the accepted usages of clinch, verb and
noun. Cf., Clinker, Whopper, Thumper, Whacker, etc.] For synonyms, see
Whopper.
Cling-Rig.—See Clink-rig.
Clink, subs. (old).—1. A prison or lock-up; specifically applied, it is
thought, to a noted gaol in the borough of Southwark; subsequently to
places—like Alsatia, the Mint, etc.—privileged from arrests; and
latterly, to a small dismal prison or a military guard room. For
synonyms, see Cage.
1515. Barclay, Egloges, I. (1570) A. 5, 4. Then art thou clapped in
the Flete or Clinke. [m.]
1642. Milton, Apol. for Smect, § ii., in wks. (1806) I., 237. And
the divine right of episcopacy was then valiantly asserted, when he
who would have been respondent, must have bethought himself withal
how he could refute the Clink or the Gatehouse.
1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xix. Come along with me; we’ve a
nice clink at Wandsworth to lock you up in.
1839. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, ep. I., ch. vi. The old and
ruinous prison belonging to the liberty of the Bishop of Winchester
(whose palace formerly adjoined the river); called the Clink.