Clutch Clutched Grasp Hold Klʌtʃ Mother Baby Arms

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.