In a few days we will hit the centennial of the great San Francisco earthquake, which touched off the worst urban fire in U.S. history. This is from an article in today's WSJ, about the rebuilding after the fire.
Mr. Lee reopened the family store in 1907 in a building made of clinker, or salvaged bricks fused together by the fire.
I'd only thought of a clinker as a hot coal. Maybe I wasn't considering that it was the comparative case, i.e. clink, clinker, clinkest. I'd think the fused stuff would be the clinkest.
An interesting word, which leads to many diversions. I seem to remember it was originally from the Netherlands klinckaerd which became modified to klinker and meant various types of bricks, made by fusion by the heat of the sun, or a kiln. The contents could include iron salts or lime or carbon impurities which combined to form a hard lump or clinker . It has been modified to clinch and clincher which have taken on different meanings. Certain small boats are in this part of the world described as clinker-built; their outer planks overlap each other below, and are fastened together with clinched copper nails. And the Victorians used clinch nails to make their boots.
The related Dutch verb klinken meant to ring or tinkle or 'clink'. You can now use it as 'jingle' and apply it to a rhyme or verse. Now there's a clincher to make you clench your teeth. And so on…
As Pearce said, "An interesting word, which leads to many diversions." Two here are prompted by Pearce's post
Pearce, what's the clinch nail you mention?
I'd never heard of a ship being clinker-built, with overlapping planks, but then I'm not nautical. Reading about it revealed that the opposite is carval-built, with non-overlapping planks.
There are so many variant uses, that I was careful to end with 'And so on… Here goes (cf. examples quoted in OED): Clinch is a variant of CLENCH n.: cf. CLINCH v.1]
1. A fastening in which the end of a nail is turned over and driven back into the substance through which it has passed, or in which the end of a bolt is beaten down and flattened upon a metal ring or washer put round it for the purpose; the clinched point of a nail; a clinched nail or bolt. Sometimes CLENCH.
2. Naut. ‘A method of fastening large ropes by a half-hitch, with the end stopped back to its own part by seizings’ (Adm. Smyth): that part of a rope which is clinched.
3. a. A thing which clutches, grips or fixes fast.
b. The grip or hold (of plaster on a wall).
4. A clinching or riveting together; the clinching of an argument, opinion, etc. Also CLENCH.
b. spec. in Boxing. Grappling at close quarters or holding after an exchange of blows.
c. An embrace. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
6. A sharp repartee that twists or turns about the meaning of a word; a word-play, a pun. Also CLENCH.
8. Comb. [In some cases this is the verb-stem.] clinch-bolt, a bolt that is clinched; clinch-built a. = CLINKER-built; clinch-fist, a grasping fellow, a miser; clinch-hammer, a hammer used for clinching; clinch-joint, the kind of joint used in clinch-work; clinch-nail, a nail of a kind adapted for clinching; clinch plate, a plate on the inside of clinch-work; clinch-ring, ‘a lap-ring or open ring, in which the parts on the sides of the opening overlap each other’ (Knight Dict. Mech.); clinch-work, = CLINKER-WORK. --------------------------------- I'd never heard of a ship being clinker-built, with overlapping planks, but then I'm not nautical. Reading about it revealed that the opposite is carval-built, with non-overlapping planks.
That is right, though I have no nautical knowledge.
