clutch
/ˈklʌt͡ʃ/ verb, noun, adjective
Also a form of cluck
Forms clutches clutching clutched cletch clitch cleach cleak cleek cleik click clouch
- verb (transitive) To seize, as though with claws. “to clutch power”
- verb (transitive) To grip or grasp tightly. “She clutched her purse tightly and walked nervously into the building.”
- verb (video games) To win despite being the only remaining player on one's team, against several opponents.
- verb (video games, by extension) To unexpectedly or luckily succeed in a difficult activity.
- noun The claw of a predatory animal or bird.
- noun (by extension) A grip, especially one seen as rapacious or evil.
- noun (automotive) A device to interrupt power transmission, commonly used to separate the engine and gearbox in a car.
- noun (automotive) The pedal in a car that disengages power and torque transmission from the engine (through the drivetrain) to the drive wheels.
- noun Any device for gripping an object, as at the end of a chain or tackle.
- noun (clothing) A fastener that attaches to the back of a tack pin to secure an accessory to clothing. (See Clutch (pin fastener).)
- noun A small handbag or purse with no straps or handle.
- noun (US) An important or critical situation. “to come in clutch”
- adjective (US, Canada) Performing or tending to perform well in difficult, high-pressure situations.
- noun (collective) A brood of chickens or a sitting of bird, monotreme or reptile eggs; a sitting.
- noun A group or bunch (of people or things).
- verb (transitive) To hatch.
Synonyms
clasp grasp grip beclasp begrasp begrip belock clench clinch cling enclasp fang fondle glaum grab grabble hang on hold on hold tight hold clutches batch clutch bag clutch pedal seize prehend cling to hold close get hold of
Etymology
From Middle English clucchen, clicchen, cluchen, clechen, cleken, from Old English clyċċan (“to clutch, clench”), from Proto-West Germanic *klukkjan, from Proto-Germanic *klukjaną, from Proto-Germanic *klu- (“to ball up, conglomerate, amass”), from Proto-Indo-European *glew- (“to ball up; lump, mass”).
Cognate with Swedish klyka (“clamp, fork, branch”). The noun is from Middle English cleche, cloche, cloke ("claw, talon, hand"; compare Scots cleuk, cluke, cluik (“claw, talon”)), of uncertain origin, with the form probably assimilated to the verb.
Alternative etymology derives Old English clyċċan from Proto-Germanic *klēk- (“claw, hand”), from Proto-Indo-European *glēk-, *ǵlēḱ- (“claw, hand; to clutch, snatch”). If so, then cognate with Irish glac (“hand”).
Variant form of cletch, from Middle English cleken (“to hatch”), perhaps from Old Norse klekja (“to hatch”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A gripe or clinching with, or as with, the fingers or claws; seizure; grasp. "The clutch of poverty." Cowper.
- noun pl.
- verb To seize, clasp, or gripe with the hand, hands, or claws; --often figuratively; as, to clutch power.
- verb To close tightly; to clinch.
Etymology [OE. cloche, cloke, claw, Scot. clook, cleuck, also OE. cleche claw, clechen, cleken, to seize; cf. AS. gelæccan (where ge- is a prefix) to seize. Cf. Latch a catch.]
Etymology [OE. clucchen. See Clutch, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “clutch”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details