Definition of turnbuckle. : a device that usually consists of a link with screw threads at both ends, that is turned to bring the ends closer together, and that is used for tightening a rod or stay.
Such splintering had not yet led to formal party organization, but later the faction led by Andrew Jackson would evolve into the Democratic Party, while the factions led by John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay would become the National Republican Party and later the Whig Party.
Despite all this defeat Henry Clay never stopped reaching for the Presidency. He made one last attempt for the Whig nomination in 1848. But at age 71 and carrying all the heavy baggage of his long career and his 3 defeats, he was again rejected by the Whigs in favor of another military hero.