clutches Definition

clutch¹
verb clutches, clutched, clutching

1. To grasp something tightly.

Thesaurus: grasp, snatch, seize, grab, grapple; clasp, embrace, cling to, cleave to, fasten on to.
intr
2. To try to grasp it.

Form: clutch at something (usually)
(US)
3. In a motor vehicle: to press the clutch pedal.

noun clutches

1. Control or power.

Thesaurus: control, power, dominion, custody, sway, keeping, possession, grip, embrace, hands, claws.
Form: clutches (usually)
2. Any device for connecting and disconnecting two rotating shafts, especially the device in a motor vehicle that transmits or prevents the transmission of the driving force from engine to gearbox.
3. In a motor vehicle: the pedal operating this device.
4. A grasp.

Thesaurus: grip, hold, clasp, grasp.

Idiom: clutch at straws (grasp at straws)

To try anything, however unlikely, in one's desperation.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon clyccan.

---

clutch²
noun clutches

1. A number of eggs laid in a single nest or at the same time.
2. A brood of newly hatched birds, especially chickens.
3. colloq
A group or number.
Thesaurus: cluster, clump, bunch.

verb

clutches, clutched, clutching
1. To hatch.

Etymology: 18c: from Norse klekja to hatch.