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Clutch   /klətʃ/   Listen
noun
Clutch  n.  
1.
A gripe or clinching with, or as with, the fingers or claws; seizure; grasp. "The clutch of poverty." "An expiring clutch at popularity." "But Age, with his stealing steps, Hath clawed me in his clutch."
2.
pl. The hands, claws, or talons, in the act of grasping firmly; often figuratively, for power, rapacity, or cruelty; as, to fall into the clutches of an adversary. "I must have... little care of myself, if I ever more come near the clutches of such a giant."
3.
(Mach.) A device which is used for coupling shafting, etc., so as to transmit motion, and which may be disengaged at pleasure.
4.
Any device for gripping an object, as at the end of a chain or tackle.
5.
(Zool.) The nest complement of eggs of a bird.
Bayonet clutch (Mach.), a clutch in which connection is made by means of bayonets attached to arms sliding on a feathered shaft. The bayonets slide through holes in a crosshead fastened on the shaft.


verb
Clutch  v. t.  (past & past part. clutched; pres. part. clutching)  
1.
To seize, clasp, or grip with the hand, hands, or claws; often figuratively; as, 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."
2.
To close tightly; to clinch. "Not that I have the power to clutch my hand."


Clutch  v. i.  
1.
To reach (at something) as if to grasp; to catch or snatch; often followed by at.
2.
To become too tense or frightened to perform properly; used sometimes with up; as, he clutched up on the exam.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Clutch" Quotes from Famous Books



... yes, I heard it with my own ears, the Voice. The crabbed tree, that is the main line, dying in me; the grafted tree is the Vaufontaine, the interloper and the mongrel; and the sapling from the same seed as the crabbed old tree"—he reached out as though to clutch Philip's arm, but drew back, sat erect in his chair, and said with ringing decision: "the sapling is Philip d'Avranche, of the ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker
... gritted through his teeth, as he jabbed the key with frantic haste into the lock. "I'll fix you for this!" He made a clutch at her throat, as he swung ...
— The White Moll • Frank L. Packard
... permanently happy on the one simple condition that a certain lost soul on the far-off edge of things should lead a life of lonely torture, what except a specifical and independent sort of emotion can it be which would make us immediately feel, even though an impulse arose within us to clutch at the happiness so offered, how hideous a thing would be its enjoyment when deliberately accepted as the fruit of such a bargain? To what, once more, but subtile brain-born feelings of discord can be due all these recent protests against ...
— The Will to Believe - and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy • William James
... accompaniments of the spring branding. That was the picture into which Thorne had suddenly ridden, his face stamped with an excitement in marked contrast to his usual phlegmatic calm. In his mind's eye Stratton could see him clutch Tex Lynch and draw him hastily to one side, could imagine vividly the low-voiced conversation that followed, the hurried saddling of a fresh horse, and the swift departure of ...
— Shoe-Bar Stratton • Joseph Bushnell Ames
... this unknown land you encountered parallel fences running across the country. They enclosed nothing, but offered a check to the cattle drifting toward the clutch of the renegades, and an obstacle ...
— Arizona Nights • Stewart Edward White


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