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Clutch vs Fist - What's the difference?

clutch | fist |

As verbs the difference between clutch and fist

is that clutch is to seize, as though with claws while fist is to break wind.

As nouns the difference between clutch and fist

is that clutch is the claw of a predatory animal or bird while fist is the act of breaking wind; fise.

As an adjective clutch

is performing or tending to perform well in difficult, high-pressure situations.

As an initialism FIST is

future Infantry Soldier Technology.

clutch

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) clucchen, clicchen, cluchen, clechen, cleken, from (etyl) . Cognate with (etyl) , of uncertain origin, with the form probably assimilated to the verb. Alternative etymology derives Old English clyccan from (etyl) .

Alternative forms

* (l), (l), (l) (dialectal) * (l), (l), (l), (l) (dialectal) * (l) (obsolete)

Verb

(es)
  • To seize, as though with claws.
    • to clutch power
  • * Collier
    • A man may set the poles together in his head, and clutch the whole globe at one intellectual grasp.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Is this a dagger which I see before me ? / Come, let me clutch thee.
  • To grip or grasp tightly.
    • She clutched her purse tightly and walked nervously into the building.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Not that I have the power to clutch my hand.

    Noun

    (es)
  • The claw of a predatory animal or bird.
  • (by extension) A grip, especially one seen as rapacious or evil.
  • * Cowper
    • the clutch of poverty
  • * Carlyle
    • an expiring clutch at popularity
  • * Bishop Stillingfleet
    • I must have little care of myself, if I ever more come near the clutches of such a giant.
  • * 1919 ,
    • You scold yourself; you know it is only your nerves—and yet, and yet... In a little while it is impossible to resist the terror that seizes you, and you are helpless in the clutch of an unseen horror.
  • A device to interrupt power transmission, commonly used between engine and gearbox in a car.
  • The pedal in a car that disengages power transmission.
  • Any device for gripping an object, as at the end of a chain or tackle.
  • A small handbag or purse with no straps or handle.
  • * 1898 , , (Moonfleet) Chapter 4
    • The clutch which I had made to save myself in falling had torn away this chin-band and let the lower jaw drop on the breast; but little else was disturbed, and there was Colonel John Mohune resting as he had been laid out a century ago.
  • (US) An important or critical situation.
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
    • Synonyms
    * clutch bag (small handbag)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (US) Performing or tending to perform well in difficult, high-pressure situations.
  • *
  • * 2009 , Scott Trocchia, The 2006 Yankees: The Frustration of a Nation, A Fan's Perspective , page 21:
    • I start with his most obvious characteristic: he was clutch'. He is Mr. '''Clutch'''. In the last chapter I mentioned that Bernie Williams was '''clutch''', which was a valid assessment, but nobody on the Yankees was as ' clutch as Jeter was.
  • *

    • Etymology 2

    Variant form of (cletch), from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (es)
  • A brood of chickens or a sitting of eggs.
  • A group or bunch (of people or things).
  • * 2012 , The Economist, 22nd Sep., Innovation in Government: Britain's Local Labs
    • No longer would Britons routinely blame the national government when things went wrong. Instead they would demand action from a new clutch of elected mayors, police commissioners and the like.

    Alternative forms

    *

    Noun

    (nb-noun-m1)
  • a (l) (device between engine and gearbox )
  • clutch pedal
    • trå in clutchen - step on the clutch

    Synonyms

    * (l) * (l)

    References

    * ----

    fist

    English

    (Webster 1913)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) fisten, fiesten, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To break wind.
    • Derived terms
    * (l)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of breaking wind; fise.
  • A puffball.

    • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) fist, from (etyl) 'five'. More at five.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • hand with the fingers clenched or curled inward
    • The boxer's fists rained down on his opponent in the last round.
  • (printing) the pointing hand symbol
  • (ham radio) the characteristic signaling rhythm of an individual telegraph or CW operator when sending Morse code
  • (slang) a person's characteristic handwriting
  • A group of men.
  • The talons of a bird of prey.
  • * Spenser
    • More light than culver in the falcon's fist .
  • (informal) An attempt at something.
  • * 2005 , Darryl N. Davis, Visions of Mind: Architectures for Cognition and Affect (page 144)
    • With the rise of cognitive neuroscience, the time may be coming when we can make a reasonable fist of mapping down from an understanding of the functional architecture of the mind to the structural architecture of the brain.
    Synonyms
    * bunch of fives * fist-size * ductus
    Derived terms
    * fisty * iron fist * hand over fist * fistful * rule with an iron fist
    Related terms
    * fisticuff * tight-fisted

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To strike with the fist.
    • ...may not score a point with his open hand(s), but may score a point by fisting the ball.'' Damian Cullen. "Running the rule." ''The Irish Times 18 Aug 2003, pg. 52.
  • To close (the hand) into a fist.
  • * 1969 , Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor , Penguin 2011, p. 29:
    • He noticed Ada's trick of hiding her fingernails by fisting her hand or stretching it with the palm turned upward when helping herself to a biscuit.
  • To grip with a fist.
  • * 1851 ,
    • I am an officer; but, how I wish I could fist a bit of old-fashioned beef in the fore-castle, as I used to when I was before the mast.
  • (slang) To fist-fuck.

    • See also

    * knuckle * punch

    Anagrams

    * *