clutch
pronunciation
How to pronounce clutch in British English:
UK [klʌtʃ]
How to pronounce clutch in American English:
US [klʌtʃ]
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- Noun:
- the act of grasping
- a tense critical situation
- a number of birds hatched at the same time
- a collection of things or persons to be handled together
- a pedal that operates a clutch
- a coupling that connects or disconnects driving and driven parts of a driving mechanism
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- Verb:
- take hold of; grab
- hold firmly, usually with one's hands
- affect
Word Origin
- clutch
- clutch: Clutch ‘seize’ [14] and clutch of eggs [18] are separate words, although they may ultimately be related. The verb arose in Middle English as a variant of the now obsolete clitch, which came from Old English clyccan ‘bend, clench’. The modern sense of the noun, ‘device for engaging a motor vehicle’s gears’, which was introduced at the end of the 19th century, developed from a more general early 19thcentury meaning ‘coupling for bringing working parts together’, based no doubt on the notion of ‘seizing’ and ‘grasping’. Clutch of eggs is a variant of the now obsolete dialectal form cletch [17].This was a derivative of the Middle English verb clecken ‘give birth’, which was borrowed from Old Norse klekja (probably a distant relative of clutch ‘seize’).
- clutch (v.)
- Old English clyccan "bring together, bend (the fingers), clench," from PIE *klukja- (cognates: Swedish klyka "clamp, fork;" related to cling). Meaning "to grasp" is early 14c.; that of "to seize with the claws or clutches" is from late 14c. Sense of "hold tightly and close" is from c. 1600. Influenced in meaning by Middle English cloke "a claw." Related: Clutched; clutching.
- clutch (n.3)
- "a brood, a nest" in reference to chickens, eggs, 1721, from clekken "to hatch" (c. 1400). Said by OED to be apparently a southern England dialect word. Compare batch/bake. Probably from a Scandinavian source (such as Old Norse klekja "to hatch"), perhaps of imitative origin (compare cluck (v.)).
- clutch (n.1)
- "a claw, grip, grasp," c. 1300, from cloche "claw," from cloke (c. 1200), related to clucchen, clicchen (see clutch (v.)). Meaning "grasping hand" (1520s) led to that of "tight grasp" (1784). Related: Clutches.
- clutch (n.2)
- movable mechanical part for transmitting motion, 1814, from clutch (v.), with the "seizing" sense extended to "device for bringing working parts together." Originally of mill-works, first used of motor vehicles 1899. Meaning "moment when heroics are required" is attested from 1920s.
Example
- 1. At this stage , your clutch is your enemy , steer clear of it !
- 2. More controversial will be tnk-bp , an anglo-russian company that is half-owned by bp ( foreign and therefore bad ) and half by a clutch of tycoons ( unpopular and therefore vulnerable ) .
- 3. The torque converter which acts like a clutch to allow the vehicle to come to a stop in gear while the engine is still running .
- 4. New technology offers the fuel efficiency of a stick shift without the hassle of a clutch .
- 5. But it was previously done using a ratcheting mechanism which required heavy solid parts such as a clutch .