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clutch

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Clutch, to grip, is a native English verb; clutch, a set of eggs, is a variant of a Scandinavian-derived dialect word.[1][2]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈklʌt͡ʃ/[3]

clutch1 grip

Etymology

Clutch, to grip, is inherited from Middle English clucchen (“to bend, crook, clench”), a dialect variant of clicchen,[1][2] inherited from Old English clyċċan (“to bring together, bend the fingers, clench”),[1][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *klukjaną,[1][4] cognate with Swedish klyka (“clamp, fork”).[1][4][5] The noun was influenced by Middle English cloke (“a claw”).[4][1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English clyccan, about 1025.[1] To grasp is from the early 14th century, and to seize with the claws from the late 14th.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

To hold tightly and close is from about 1600.[4] The noun first meant a claw (cloche about 1300, from earlier cloke), then a grasping hand (1525) and a tight grasp (1784, in Cowper's The Task);[1][6] clutches, the hands as rapacious or cruel, is from the 1520s.[4] A coupling device to engage and disengage machinery is from 1814, and the clutch of a motor vehicle from 1899.[1] The adjective, done in a tense or critical situation, as in a clutch hit, is from 1929 in Merriam-Webster.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1025 – clyccan.[1]
  • c. 1300 – a claw (noun).[1]
  • 1525 – a grasping hand.[1]
  • 1814 – a mechanical clutch.[1]
  • 1899 – the clutch of a car.[1]
  • 1929 – clutch, critical (adjective).[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To seize or grasp and hold tightly.
  2. To try to seize: clutch at straws.

Noun

  1. A device for connecting and disconnecting two revolving shafts, especially the one between a car's engine and gearbox.
  2. A tight grip; in the plural, control or power: in the clutches of.
  3. A small handbag without a strap.

Adjective

  1. (US, informal) Done in, or good at handling, a tense or critical situation.

clutch2 set of eggs

Etymology

The set of eggs is a variant of northern dialect cletch (1691),[1][2][5] which is inherited from Middle English clekken (“to hatch”) (1402), as batch is to bake,[1] borrowed from Old Norse klekja (“to hatch”), perhaps related to klaka (“to cackle”) (see cluck).[1][2] Its form was associated with clutch, to grip.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A nest of eggs or a brood of chickens: 1721.[1][5]

Semantic evolution

A group of people or things, a bunch, is a later extension.[7][8]

Timeline

  • 1402 – clekken, to hatch.[1]
  • 1691 – cletch.[1]
  • 1721 – clutch.[1][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A set of eggs laid or incubated at one time; a brood of chicks.
  2. A small group of people or things.

Verb

  1. To hatch chicks.
  • cling
  • clench
  • cluck
  • clinch

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  2. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins