clutch
verb
- to seek to grasp and hold literally or figuratively.
noun
- machine element allowing to switch on or off the transmission of mechanical power between two shafts in a vehicle or another machine
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈklʌt͡ʃ/ / [ˈkʰl̥ʌt͡ʃ]
adj
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”).
- Performing or tending to perform well in difficult, high-pressure situations.
“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.”
noun
Etymology: Variant form of cletch, from Middle English cleken (“to hatch”), perhaps from Old Norse klekja (“to hatch”).
- A brood of chickens or a sitting of eggs; a sitting.
“For instance, baby chicks influence their mother’s behaviour by giving high piercing cheeps when they are lost or cold. This usually has the immediate effect of summoning the mother, who leads the chick back to the main clutch.”
- A group or bunch (of people or things).
“No 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.”
“And, so, although the Zeros knocked out four dive bombers (two of them permanently and two forced to abort), the other eleven made it to a position above Shōkaku, which pulled a neat evasive turn that sent the first clutch of thousand-pound bombs into the sea.”
verb
Etymology: Variant form of cletch, from Middle English cleken (“to hatch”), perhaps from Old Norse klekja (“to hatch”).
- To hatch.