clutch
Part of speech: verb
noun
adj
Morphological type: simple
Topics: automotive
business
clothing
fashion
lifestyle
manufacturing
textiles
transport
vehicles
video-games
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”).
Inflected forms:
form: clutches
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: clutching
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: clutched
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: clutched
pos: verb
tags: past
form: cletch
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: clitch
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: cleach
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: cleak
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: cleek
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: cleik
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: click
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: clouch
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: clutches
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: cletch
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: clitch
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: cleach
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: cleak
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: cleek
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: cleik
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: click
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: clouch
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: more clutch
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most clutch
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: cletch
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: clitch
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: cleach
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: cleak
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: cleek
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: cleik
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: click
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: clouch
pos: adj
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: To seize, as though with claws.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to clutch power
A man may set the poles together in his head, and clutch the whole globe at one intellectual grasp.
Is this a Dagger, which I ſee before me, [...] ? / Come, let me clutch thee: / I haue thee not, and yet I ſee thee ſtill.
gloss: To grip or grasp tightly.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: She clutched her purse tightly and walked nervously into the building.
Not that I haue the power to clutch my hand,
gloss: To win despite being the only remaining player on one's team, against several opponents.
pos: verb
examples: For quotations using this term, see Citations:clutch.
gloss: To unexpectedly or luckily succeed in a difficult activity.
pos: verb
tags: broadly
gloss: The claw of a predatory animal or bird.
pos: noun
gloss: A grip, especially one seen as rapacious or evil.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
examples: I muſt have great leiſure, and little care of my ſelf, if I ever more come near the Clutches of ſuch a Giant, who ſeems to write with a Beetle inſtead of a Pen; […]
Should when he pleaſes, and on whom he will / Wage war, with any or with no pretence / Of provocation, giv'n or wrong ſuſtained, / And force the beggarly laſt doit, by means / That his own humour dictates, from the clutch / Of poverty, that thus he may procure / His thouſands weary of penurious life / A ſplendid opportunity to die?
The more cunning heads thought it was all an expiring clutch at popularity, on the part of a Minister, whom domestic embarrassments, court intrigues, old age, and dropsy soon afterward finally drove from the helm.
You scold yourself; you know it is only your nerves—and yet, and yet … In a little while, it is impossible to resist the terror that seizes you, and you are helpless in the clutch of an unseen horror.
gloss: A device to interrupt power transmission, commonly used to separate the engine and gearbox in a car.
pos: noun
gloss: The pedal in a car that disengages power and torque transmission from the engine (through the drivetrain) to the drive wheels.
pos: noun
gloss: Any device for gripping an object, as at the end of a chain or tackle.
pos: noun
gloss: A fastener that attaches to the back of a tack pin to secure an accessory to clothing. (See Clutch (pin fastener).)
pos: noun
gloss: A small handbag or purse with no straps or handle.
pos: noun
examples: The clutch which I had made to save myself in falling had torn away from this chin-band and let the lower jaw drop on the breast, but little else was disturbed, and there was Colonel John Mohune resting as he had been laid out a century ago.
gloss: An important or critical situation.
pos: noun
tags: US
examples: to come in clutch
And when it came to the clutch, Johnny Mize, who was washed up five years ago, would crack out a pinch double, or Mickey Mantle, who is not yet ready for the big leagues, would slam out a home run.
He is the player who has come through so often in the clutch during his days at Camarillo.
Stempel came through in the clutch again. GM's across-the-board launch of the catalytic converter was a coup that left Ford and Chrysler gaspind in the dust.
But not just strong women: women who don’t turn to a man in the clutch; women whose strength is inseparable from the walls they’ve built around themselves.
gloss: A difficult maneuver.
pos: noun
gloss: Performing or tending to perform well in difficult, high-pressure situations.
pos: adj
tags: Canada
US
examples: NC State made the most of their overtime possession scoring a touchdown on some very clutch plays.
I start with his most obvious characteristic: he was clutch. He is Mr. Clutch. In the last chapter I mentioned that Bernie Williams was clutch, which was a valid assessment, but nobody on the Yankees was as clutch as Jeter was.
It doesn't get more clutch than that!
Derived words: a drowning man will clutch at a straw
clutchable
clutch at a straw
clutch at straws
clutchfist
clutch one's pearls
clutchy
double-clutch
pearl-clutching
straw-clutching
unclutch
camel clutch
clutch bag
clutch disc
clutchless
clutch pedal
clutch pencil
clutchplate
clutch plate
declutch
dual-clutch gearbox
ride the clutch
twin-clutch gearbox
clutch artist
multiclutch
Translations: