hind cinch

( cincha [síntfa] < Latin cingulam 'belts; girdles')

   Noun forms:

   1) Colorado: 1859. The saddle girth or strap used to hold a saddle on an animal. It is generally made of braided horsehair, leather, canvas, or cordage, and has a metal ring on either end.

    Alternate forms: cincha, cinche, cincher, cincho, sinche.

   2) New York: 1888. A sure bet; an easy thing.

    Alternate forms: cincha, cincho, sinch.

   3) DARE: 1889. A four-player card game also known as Double Pedro or High Five.

    Alternate form: Sinch.

    Verb forms:

   4) DARE: 1871. To tighten the strap on a saddle; to secure the saddle on a horse's back.

    Alternate form: cinch up (Adams says that cinch up is the proper term and that cinch alone was never used in Old West).

   5) California: 1968. To secure or fasten something.

   6) Nebraska: 1905. To secure a deal, to make certain.

    Alternate form: cinch up.

   7) California: 1875. According to the DARE, "to squeeze into a small place." This was also used figuratively. For instance, a person caught committing a dishonest act was cinched. Spanish sources reference only the first of the above definitions. The rest are extensions. The DRAE glosses cincha as a band made of hemp, wool, horsehair, leather, or esparto grass with which one secures the saddle on an animal. It fits behind the front legs or under the belly of the horse and is tightened with one or more buckles. Santamaría and Islas give similar definitions to that found in the DRAE, but they indicate that in Mexico the term is commonly spelled cincho.

    busted cinch

   A broken cinch strap or a figurative expression for any failed venture.

    cinch binder

   Washington: 1916. According to Watts and Adams, a horse that bucks and falls backward when the cinch on its saddle is pulled too tightly.

    cinch hook

   Blevins glosses this term as a hook on a spur that attaches to the cinch to prevent an animal from throwing its rider.

    cinch ring

   The ring on a cinch, according to Blevins.

    double cinch

   As Clark notes, this term refers to the two straps on a western-style saddle; one in the front and the other at the rear.

    flank cinch

   Carlisle: 1912. According to Carlisle, a saddle strap that fits "between the ribs and the hips of the horse."

    hind cinch

   Carlisle: 1930. The rear strap on a western saddle.

    lead-pipe cinch

    OED: 1898. A sure thing; something that is easy. Hendrickson suggests that the term comes from a combination of cinch ( See 2) and a reference to the underworld where criminals used lead pipes as weapons because they were a surefire way to dispose of their victims. He goes on to say the lead pipes were easy to get rid of if the criminals were approached by police. His etymology is unsupported by other English sources consulted, and appears fanciful, to say the least. Also referenced in the OED as "a complete certainty."