CLUTCHES

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does clutches mean? 

• CLUTCHES (noun)
  The noun CLUTCHES has 1 sense:

1. the act of grasping

  Familiarity information: CLUTCHES used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CLUTCHES (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of grasping

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

clasp; clench; clutch; clutches; grasp; grip; hold

Context example:

she kept a firm hold on the railing

Hypernyms ("clutches" is a kind of...):

grasping; prehension; seizing; taking hold (the act of gripping something firmly with the hands (or the tentacles))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "clutches"):

choke hold; chokehold (a restraining hold; someone loops the arm around the neck of another person in a tight grip, usually from behind)

embrace; embracement; embracing (the act of clasping another person in the arms (as in greeting or affection))

wrestling hold (a hold used in the sport of wrestling)

 Context examples 

We stopped there by the way, and there was no getting my wife out of their clutches.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Damn sight better dead and outa your reach than alive and in your clutches!

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

If our ex-missionary friends escape the clutches of Lestrade, I shall expect to hear of some brilliant incidents in their future career.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

God keep you out of the clutches of such a man as he.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The kindly, charitable, good old governor—how could he have fallen into the clutches of such a ruffian!

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

With no hope of escaping the galaxy’s gravitational clutches, the plasma cools off, slows down, and eventually rains back down on the black hole, where the cycle begins anew.

(ALMA and MUSE Detect Galactic Fountain, ESO)

Thus it was that we parted without explanation: she waving her hand and smiling farewell from the coach window; her evil genius writhing on the roof, as if he had her in his clutches and triumphed.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I knew that, owing to his reckless mode of life, he was firmly in the clutches of the Jews, and I hoped that that which had shaken my position might have the effect of restoring his.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For I have already told the reader how much I was pestered by these odious animals, upon my first arrival; and I afterwards failed very narrowly, three or four times, of falling into their clutches, when I happened to stray at any distance without my hanger.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

An illusion that won't convince is a palpable lie, and that's what grand opera is to me when little Barillo throws a fit, clutches mighty Tetralani in his arms (also in a fit), and tells her how passionately he adores her.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)