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Added 9 October 2026

clutch

/ˈklʌt͡ʃ/ noun

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about clutch at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

The act of grasping.
he released his clasp on my arm
A tense critical situation.
he is a good man in the clutch
A number of birds hatched at the same time.

verb

Take hold of; grab.
The sales clerk quickly seized the money on the counter
Hold firmly, usually with one's hands.
She clutched my arm when she got scared
Affect.
Fear seized the prisoners

Origin

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.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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