clutch

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To grasp and hold tightly.
2. v. To seize; snatch.
3. v. To attempt to grasp or seize: clutch at a life raft.
4. v. To engage or disengage a motor vehicle's clutch.
5. n. A hand, claw, talon, or paw in the act of grasping.
6. n. A tight grasp.
7. n. Control or power. Often used in the plural: caught in the clutches of sin.
8. n. A device for gripping and holding.
9. n. Any of various devices for engaging and disengaging two working parts of a shaft or of a shaft and a driving mechanism.
10. n. The apparatus, such as a lever or pedal, that activates one of these devices.
11. n. A tense, critical situation: came through in the clutch.
12. n. A clutch bag.
13. adj. Informal Being or occurring in a tense or critical situation: won the championship by sinking a clutch putt.
14. adj. Informal Tending to be successful in tense or critical situations: The coach relied on her clutch pitcher.
15. n. The complete set of eggs produced or incubated at one time.
16. n. A brood of chickens.
17. n. A group; a bunch.
18. v. To hatch (chicks).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To grasp tightly or firmly; seize, clasp, or grip strongly: as, to clutch a dagger.
2. To close tightly; clench.
3. To fasten.
4. To get; gain.
5. Specifically To seize (a clutch of eggs); take from the clutch.
6. To snatch, or endeavor to snatch; try to grasp or seize: with at.
7. n. A grasp or hold; specifically, a strong grip upon anything.
8. n. In machinery: A movable coupling or locking and unlocking contrivance, used for transmitting motion, or for disconnecting moving parts of machinery. See bayonet-clutch, friction-clutch, etc.
9. n. The cross-head of a piston-rod.
10. n. The paw, talon, or claw of a rapacious animal.
11. n. Figuratively, the hand, as representing power; hence, power of disposal or control; mastery: chiefly in the plural: as, to fall into the clutches of an enemy.
12. n. A hatch of eggs; the number of eggs incubated at any one time; in the case of the domestic hen, specifically, thirteen eggs.
13. A dialectal variant of cluck.
14. n. Nautical: A forked stanchion.
15. n. The throat of a patent anchor.
16. n. Oyster spawn.

Wiktionary

1. n. The pedal in a car that disengages power transmission.
2. n. A small handbag or purse with no straps or handle.
3. n. US An important or critical situation.
4. adj. US Performing or tending to perform well in difficult, high-pressure situations.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A gripe or clinching with, or as with, the fingers or claws; seizure; grasp.
2. n. The hands, claws, or talons, in the act of grasping firmly; -- often figuratively, for power, rapacity, or cruelty.
3. n. (Mach.) A device which is used for coupling shafting, etc., so as to transmit motion, and which may be disengaged at pleasure.
4. n. Any device for gripping an object, as at the end of a chain or tackle.
5. n. (Zoöl.) The nest complement of eggs of a bird.
6. v. To seize, clasp, or grip with the hand, hands, or claws; -- often figuratively.
7. v. To close tightly; to clinch.
8. v. To reach (at something) as if to grasp; to catch or snatch; -- often followed by at.
9. v. to become too tense or frightened to perform properly; used sometimes with up.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. hold firmly, usually with one's hands
2. v. affect.
3. n. a number of birds hatched at the same time
4. n. a woman's strapless purse that is carried in the hand
5. n. the act of grasping
6. n. a collection of things or persons to be handled together
7. v. take hold of; grab.
8. n. a pedal or lever that engages or disengages a rotating shaft and a driving mechanism
9. n. a tense critical situation
10. n. a coupling that connects or disconnects driving and driven parts of a driving mechanism