Clutch

Pronunciation

• IPA: /klÊŒt͡ʃ/
• Rhymes: -ÊŒtʃ

From Middle English clucchen, clicchen, cluchen, clechen, cleken, from Old English clyccan ("to clutch, clench"), from Proto-Germanic *klukjanÄ…, 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 (), of uncertain origin, with the form probably assimilated to the verb.

Alternative etymology derives Old English clyccan 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").

Alternative forms

• cletch, clitch, cleach dialectal
• cleak, cleek, cleik, click dialectal
• clouch obsolete

Full definition of clutch

Verb

1. To seize, as though with claws. from 14th c.to clutch power
• CollierA man may set the poles together in his head, and clutch the whole globe at one intellectual grasp.
• ShakespeareIs this a dagger which I see before me ...?
  Come, let me clutch thee.
2. To grip or grasp tightly. from 17th c.She clutched her purse tightly and walked nervously into the building.
• ShakespeareNot that I have the power to clutch my hand.

Noun

1. The claw of a predatory animal or bird. from 13th c.
2. (by extension) A grip, especially one seen as rapacious or evil. from 16th c.
• Cowperthe clutch of poverty
• Carlylean expiring clutch at popularity
• Bishop StillingfleetI must have ... little care of myself, if I ever more come near the clutches of such a giant.
• 1919, William Somerset Maugham, ,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.
3. A device to interrupt power transmission, commonly used between engine and gearbox in a car. from 19th c.
4. The pedal in a car that disengages power transmission.
5. Any device for gripping an object, as at the end of a chain or tackle.
6. A small handbag or purse with no straps or handle.
• 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4The clutch which I had made to save myself in falling had torn away 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.
7. (US) An important or critical situation.
• The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride Into the Secret Heart of BCCI
• When You Went Away
• 2010
• Clutch: Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don't

Synonyms

• clutch bag (small handbag)

Adjective

1. (US) Performing or tending to perform well in difficult, high-pressure situations.
• Three Days for Goodbye
• 2009, Scott Trocchia, The 2006 Yankees: The Frustration of a Nation, A Fan's Perspective, page 21: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.
• Clutch Performers

Variant form of cletch, from Middle English cleken ("to hatch"), perhaps from Old Norse klekja ("to hatch").

Noun

1. A brood of chickens or a sitting of eggs. from 18th c.
2. A group or bunch (of people or things). from 20th c.
• 2012, The Economist, 22nd Sep., Innovation in Government: Britain's Local LabsNo longer would Britons routinely blame the national government when things went wrong. Instead they would demand action from a new clutch of elected mayors, police commissioners and the like.