ETYMOLOGY
of uncertain origin;
perhaps from one who clinches or clenches the poops of vessels,
a clincher (a workman who clinched the bolts in shipbuilding)
EXAMPLE 1.
“…Yf a Gentlemanne haue in hym anye humble behauour, then Roysters doo cal suche one by the name of a Loute, a Clynchepope, or one that knoweth no facyons…”
From: The Institucion of a Gentleman
By Humfrey Braham, 1555
EXAMPLE 2.
“…Cléante
Ma chere, ma chere, c’est vrai, c’est vrai,
But my rival is a juggins –
Angélique
A muggins –
Cléante
A noodle and a looby –
Angélique
A lopdoodle, a dunderhead, a pigsconce and a booby –
Cléante
A Clinchpoop, a gobemouche, a snollygoster, a gongoozler –
Angélique
A lickspiggot, a fuzzdutty, a jobbernowl, an ass –
Thomas
It’s highly amusing.
Cléante
– Who’s in love with the sound of his own braying …”
From: The Hypochondriac
Roger McGough’s translation of Molière’s Le Malade Imaginaire, 2009
Lexicophilia 