clutch1
  
  v.
 grasp tightly. 
▸
(
clutch at)
 seize eagerly or in desperation:
 he clutched at the idea.
n.
    - a tight grasp.
 - 
(clutches)
 power or control:
 she was about to fall into his clutches.
 - a mechanism for connecting and disconnecting the engine and the transmission system in a vehicle, or the working parts of any machine.
 - N. Amer. a clutch bag.
 
 
  Etymology
  ME (in the sense ‘bend, crook’): var. of obs. clitch ‘close the hand’, from OE clyccan ‘crook, clench’, of Gmc origin.
 
  
    
clutch2
  
  n.
  - a group of eggs fertilized at the same time, laid in a single session and (in birds) incubated together. 
▸a brood of chicks.
 - a small group of people or things.
 
 
  Etymology
  C18: prob. a southern var. of north. Engl. dial. cletch, rel. to ME cleck ‘to hatch’, from ON klekja.