clutch

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To hold something tightly, usually with your hands.

   She clutched her bag tightly as she walked into the building.

2. 2
   noun

   The pedal or lever that connects and disconnects the engine from the gears in a vehicle.

   He released the clutch slowly and pressed the gas.

3. 3
   noun

   A tense, critical moment when success really matters.

   He always plays his best in the clutch.

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 clyċċ…

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