cinch

He certainly was no cinch to make it to the major leagues, though.

His lifetime batting average has dipped to .299, and milestones such as 500 home runs and 3,000 hits that once seemed a cinch are now long shots or downright impossible.

The clothes: Cocooned hoods, floor-grazing trench coats with a kind of backward veil, cinched jackets with ’80s proportions in leopard-printed pony hair and an iridescent shorts suit the color of rich amber.

Within the short space of 32 hours, Harris had enough commitments from Democratic delegates to cinch in the nomination.

Three elements cinched it: The views from the road above were stunning, the piazza charmed, and what would become something of a location star for rapt viewers, “the incredible network of stairs, alleys and passageways.”