clutch

Meaning

Verb

1. To seize, as though with claws.
2. To grip or grasp tightly.
3. To win despite being the only remaining player on one's team, against several opponents.
4. To unexpectedly or luckily succeed in a difficult activity.

Noun

1. The claw of a predatory animal or bird.
2. A grip, especially one seen as rapacious or evil.
3. A device to interrupt power transmission, commonly used to separate the engine and gearbox in a car.
4. The pedal in a car that disengages power and torque transmission from the engine (through the drivetrain) to the drive wheels.
5. Any device for gripping an object, as at the end of a chain or tackle.
6. A fastener that attaches to the back of a tack pin to secure an accessory to clothing. (See Clutch (pin fastener).)
7. A small handbag or purse with no straps or handle.
8. An important or critical situation.
9. A difficult maneuver.

Adj

Performing or tending to perform well in difficult, high-pressure situations.

Noun

1. A brood of chickens or a sitting of eggs.
2. A group or bunch (of people or things).

Synonyms

grasp

seize

grip

grab

hold

catch

claw

clasp

snatch

grapple

capture

clutches

cling

clench

clamp

🗜️

coupling

take

cling to

nab

brood

prehend

pinch

batch

grasp tightly

press

clutch bag

get hold of

litter

group

hold tight

nip

battery

🔋

gathering

squeeze

coupler

stick

confiscate

band

hold close

constrictor

set

gripe

bunch

score

handbag

👜

body

clutch pedal

clinch

frog

🐸

fucker

gear

⚙️

gink

gook

grab at

grifter

haft

handful

handle

hang on

hatch

heck

heft

hit

hold fast

hook

🪝

host

impound

influence

intersection

jerk

joint

junction box

knob

knot

🪢

leap

lowlife

low life

lug

mesh

mob

nexus

nipper

notice

number

🔢

occlusion

outfit

pack

party

🥳

paw

perceive

phalanx

pincers

platoon

poach

pommel

pouch

👝

power

pressing

pressure

prohibit

pummel

purchase

🛍️

purse

👛

raff

rape

ravish

riffraff

rifle

rip

rotter

run across

run up against

scald

schlep

schlepp

schmo

schmuck

schnook

scoop up

scrounge

scum

scut

section

setting

shit

💩

slicker

slime

smite

snap

so and so

son of a bitch

son of a gun

spoil

squad

squash

stinker

stopping

strike

switch

tackle

tense

throng

thug

toggle

trap

🪤

troop

turd

welter

clutch at

hold on to

keep hold of

make a fist

ratfink

scumbag

smooth operator

schmoe

eggs

tear from

discussion section

mother fucker

scum bag

joining-up

slimebag

holding-on

joint slack

clutch purse

douchebag

sonofobitch

crumb bum

smacko

crum-bum

ass maggot

sona'bitch'u

adhere

ratink

apprehend

approach

arrest

articulation

attain

bank

🏦

bastard

battalion

bite

block

bracket

bring

brock

caitiff

captivate

catch up

chase

clip

cluster

clutch coupling

coherence

come over

company

compress

connection

control

corral

covey

creep

crowd

crud

crum

crump

crush

discern

drip

emergency

encounter

entangle

excerpt

extract

family

👪

find

🔍

fist

✊

fixate

flatten

force

Pronounced as (IPA)

/klʌt͡ʃ/

Etymology

From Middle English clucchen, clicchen, cluchen, clechen, cleken, from Old English clyċċan (“to clutch, clench”), 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”).