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clutch

To clutch is to grasp or hold on to tightly. Some people clutch the safety bar on the roller coaster for dear life; others throw their hands in the air.

As a noun, clutch has many meanings: a brood of chickens, a strapless purse, the extra pedal in a stick-shift car. But the verb remains a great way to describe grasping. "Once I knew only darkness and stillness . . . but a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped to the rapture of living,” said Helen Keller, recalling the moment she learned to read Braille.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: clutch

1	v n	take hold of; grab the act of grasping
2	v n	affect a tense critical situation
3	n	a coupling that connects or disconnects driving and driven parts of a driving mechanism
4	n	a collection of things or persons to be handled together
5	n	a woman's strapless purse that is carried in the hand

FULL DEFINITIONS OF: clutch

v take hold of; grab

“She clutched her purse”

Synonyms:: prehend, seize

Types:: show 23 types...; hide 23 types...; nab
seize suddenly; rack
seize together, as of parallel ropes of a tackle in order to prevent running through the block; claw
clutch as if in panic; apprehend, arrest, collar, cop, nab, nail, pick up
take into custody; capture, catch, get
succeed in catching or seizing, especially after a chase; collar
seize by the neck or collar; clasp
grasp firmly; grip
hold fast or firmly; grab
take or grasp suddenly; catch, grab, take hold of
take hold of so as to seize or restrain or stop the motion of; snap, snatch, snatch up
to grasp hastily or eagerly; clench, clinch
hold in a tight grasp; grapple, grip
to grip or seize, as in a wrestling match; harpoon
spear with a harpoon; fish
catch or try to catch fish or shellfish; hook
catch with a hook; net, nett
catch with a net; recapture, retake
capture again; swoop, swoop up
seize or catch with a swooping motion; intercept, stop
seize on its way; bite, seize with teeth
to grip, cut off, or tear with or as if with the teeth or jaws; nip, pinch, squeeze, tweet, twinge, twitch
squeeze tightly between the fingers; lasso, rope
catch with a lasso

Type of:: get hold of, take
get into one's hands, take physically

v hold firmly, usually with one's hands

“She clutched my arm when she got scared”

Synonyms:: cling to, hold close, hold tight

Types:: cuddle, draw close, nest, nestle, nuzzle, snuggle
move or arrange oneself in a comfortable and cozy position

Type of:: hold, take hold
have or hold in one's hands or grip

n the act of grasping

Synonyms:: clasp, clench, clutches, grasp, grip, hold

Types:: show 12 types...; hide 12 types...; choke hold, chokehold
a restraining hold; someone loops the arm around the neck of another person in a tight grip, usually from behind; embrace, embracement, embracing
the act of clasping another person in the arms (as in greeting or affection); wrestling hold
a hold used in the sport of wrestling; cuddle, nestle, snuggle
a close and affectionate (and often prolonged) embrace; clinch, hug, squeeze
a tight or amorous embrace; bear hug
a wrestling hold with arms locked tightly around the opponent; nelson
any of several wrestling holds in which an arm is passed under the opponent's arm from behind and the hand exerts pressure on the back of the neck; Japanese stranglehold
a wrestling hold in which the opponent's arms are crossed in front of his own neck to exert pressure on his windpipe; lock
any wrestling hold in which some part of the opponent's body is twisted or pressured; scissor grip, scissor hold, scissors, scissors grip, scissors hold
a wrestling hold in which you wrap your legs around the opponents body or head and put your feet together and squeeze; stranglehold
a wrestling hold in which the arms are pressed against the opponent's windpipe; toehold
a wrestling hold in which the toe is held and the leg is twisted against the joints

Type of:: grasping, prehension, seizing, taking hold
the act of gripping something firmly with the hands (or the tentacles)

v affect

Synonyms:: get hold of, seize

Type of:: overcome, overpower, overtake, overwhelm, sweep over, whelm
overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli

n a tense critical situation

“he is a good man in the clutch”

Type of:: temporary state
a state that continues for a limited time

n a coupling that connects or disconnects driving and driven parts of a driving mechanism

“this year's model has an improved clutch”

Types:: show 5 types...; hide 5 types...; freewheel
a clutch (as on the rear wheel of a bicycle) that allows wheels to turn freely (as in coasting); friction clutch
a clutch in which one part turns the other by the friction between them; cone clutch, cone friction clutch
a friction clutch in which the frictional surfaces are cone-shaped; disk clutch
a friction clutch in which the frictional surfaces are disks; slip clutch, slip friction clutch
a friction clutch that will slip when the torque is too great

Type of:: coupler, coupling
a mechanical device that serves to connect the ends of adjacent objects

n a pedal or lever that engages or disengages a rotating shaft and a driving mechanism

“he smoothely released the clutch with one foot and stepped on the gas with the other”

Synonyms:: clutch pedal

Type of:: foot lever, foot pedal, pedal, treadle
a lever that is operated with the foot

n a collection of things or persons to be handled together

Synonyms:: batch

Types:: schmear, schmeer, shmear
(Yiddish) a batch of things that go together

Type of:: accumulation, aggregation, assemblage, collection
several things grouped together or considered as a whole

n a number of birds hatched at the same time

Type of:: brood
the young of an animal cared for at one time

n a woman's strapless purse that is carried in the hand

Synonyms:: clutch bag

Type of:: bag, handbag, pocketbook, purse
a container used for carrying money and small personal items or accessories (especially by women)

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