cinch
/sɪn(t)ʃ
/noun
1 informal An extremely easy task: the program was a cinch to use...
- All this makes vote fraud a cinch.
- What we learned at the time from some of the world's leading security experts was that breaking into even the most sensitive sites on the Internet was a cinch.
- If you know the child well enough, buying that perfect gift is a cinch.
Synonyms
easy task, easy job, child's play, five-finger exercise, gift, walkover, nothing
informal doddle, walk in the park, piece of cake, picnic, money for old rope, money for jam, breeze, sitter, kids' stuff, cushy job/number, doss, cakewalk, pushover
North American informal duck soup, snap
Australian/New Zealand informal bludge, snack
South African informal a piece of old tackie
dated snip
British vulgar slang a piece of piss
See also easy1.1chiefly North American A sure thing; a certainty: he was a cinch to take a prize...
- He was a cinch to cast as the wicked wizard Jafar in Aladdin.
- After a lackluster performance, it was a cinch for the judges to send him home.
- Al Hirschfeld had not only made it to 99, he seemed a cinch to hit 100.
Synonyms
certainty, sure thing
informal cert, dead cert
2chiefly North American A girth for a Western saddle or pack of a type used mainly in Mexico and the western US: they watered the horses and loosed the cinches...
- Tack is not defined, but presumably means saddle and bridle and normal accessories, such as girths, cinches and saddle pads.
- Use clean tack, saddle pads, and cinches / girths, and make sure your saddle fits your horse.
- John's completed saddles are 100% ready to ride with their custom mohair cinches, latigo and stirrups.
verb [with object] chiefly North American
1Secure (a garment) with a belt: my cut-offs are cinched by a belt...
- But any sensible reptile at Cable Beach wouldn't dare mess with David when they see the crocodile skin belt cinching his trousers!
- I've cinched my belts inward relentlessly, drilling new holes as the slimming down process did its job.
- Too-large dress shirts can be cinched with a belt to accentuate your figure.
1.1Fix (a saddle) securely by means of a girth: when I caught up with him he was cinching up the saddle on Rose...
- After cinching the saddle tightly around the donkey's belly, she adjusted the balance of the baskets.
- He gave her one look before he finished cinching the saddle.
- The stable man worked quickly, putting a velvet saddle blanket on, then the saddle, which he cinched securely.
2 informal Make certain of: his advice cinched her decision to accept the offer...
- But the decision was cinched by an email from my 10-year-old niece.
- Susie's domination here, however, cinched her first-place victory and secured her a place in fitness history as the only three-time winner.
- This quote is what cinches my position.
Origin
Mid 19th century (in sense 2 of the noun): from Spanish cincha 'girth'.
The first recorded use of cinch, ‘something that is easy to achieve’, was as a term for a girth of a saddle that was made from separate twisted strands of horsehair. It was used in Mexico and the western USA, and is a Spanish word. The link between the original meaning and the modern one is the idea of having a firm or secure hold on something.