clutch
/ˈklʌt͡ʃ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.88 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To unexpectedly or luckily succeed in a difficult activity.
noun
The claw of a predatory animal or bird.
noun
A grip, especially one seen as rapacious or evil.
noun
A device to interrupt power transmission, commonly used to separate the engine and gearbox in a car.
noun
The pedal in a car that disengages power and torque transmission from the engine (through the drivetrain) to the drive wheels.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "She clutched her purse tightly and walked nervously into the building."
- "Not that I haue the power to clutch my hand,"
- "For quotations using this term, see Citations:clutch."
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”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
- Transitive verb
- American usage
- Canadian usage
Inflected Forms
clutches (present, singular)
clutching (participle, present)
clutched (participle, past)
clutched (past)
cletch (alternative)
clitch (alternative)
cleach (alternative)
cleak (alternative)
cleek (alternative)
cleik (alternative)
click (alternative)
clouch (alternative)