different between putz vs clutch

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Yiddish ?????? (pots, “penis, fool”). Compare similar semantic developments in futz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?ts/
• Rhymes: -?ts

Noun

putz (plural putzes)

1. (slang, derogatory) Fool, idiot.
2. (slang, derogatory) Jerk.

   Synonym: schmuck
3. (slang) Penis.

   Synonym: schmuck

Derived terms

• putzhead, putz-head, putz head

Verb

putz (third-person singular simple present putzes, present participle putzing, simple past and past participle putzed)

1. (slang) Waste time.

   Synonym: futz

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Pennsylvania German Putz; compare German Putz (“ornament, decoration, finery”), putzen (“to clean; decorate”). Compare the above.

Alternative forms

• Putz

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?ts/
• Rhymes: -?ts

Noun

putz (plural putzes)

1. A decoration or ornament in the Nativity tradition, usually placed under a Christmas tree.
   • 1995, Joe L. Wheeler, Christmas in My Heart, Book 4, pages 12-13:

     The American custom of erecting a putz seems to have originated with the Moravians but the custom long ago spread to non-Moravian households. Essentially, the putz is a landscape, built on the floor or on a table or portable platform.

Verb

putz (third-person singular simple present putzes, present participle putzing, simple past and past participle putzed)

1. (Pennsylvania Dutch) To go around viewing the putzes in the neighborhood.

Portuguese

Etymology

Probably a euphemistic form of puta.

Alternative forms

• puts

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /?puts/, [?put?s]

Interjection

putz

1. (slang) Used to emphasize something that has gone wrong.

   Synonym: putz grila

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kl?t??/
• Rhymes: -?t?

Etymology 1

From Middle English clucchen, clicchen, cluchen, clechen, cleken, from Old English cly??an (“to clutch, clench”), from Proto-Germanic *klukjan?, from Proto-Germanic *klu- (“to ball up, conglomerate, amass”), from Proto-Indo-European *glew- (“to ball up; lump, mass”).Cognate with Swedish klyka (“clamp, fork, branch”). The noun is from Middle English cleche, cloche, cloke ("claw, talon, hand"; compare Scots cleuk, cluke, cluik (“claw, talon”)), of uncertain origin, with the form probably assimilated to the verb.

Alternative etymology derives Old English cly??an from Proto-Germanic *kl?k- (“claw, hand”), from Proto-Indo-European *gl?k-, *?l??- (“claw, hand; to clutch, snatch”). If so, then cognate with Irish glac (“hand”).

Alternative forms

• cletch, clitch, cleach (dialectal)
• cleak, cleek, cleik, click (dialectal)
• clouch (obsolete)

Verb

clutch (third-person singular simple present clutches, present participle clutching, simple past and past participle clutched)

1. To seize, as though with claws. [from 14th c.]
   • a. 1700, Jeremy Collier, A Thought

     A man may set the poles together in his head, and clutch the whole globe at one intellectual grasp.
2. To grip or grasp tightly. [from 17th c.]

Synonyms

• (grip or grasp tightly): clasp, grasp, grip; See also Thesaurus:grasp

Translations

Noun

clutch (plural clutches)

1. The claw of a predatory animal or bird. [from 13th c.]
2. (by extension) A grip, especially one seen as rapacious or evil. [from 16th c.]

   • the clutch of poverty

   • 1676, Edward Stillingfleet, A defence of the discourse concerning the idolatry practised in the Church of Rome […]

     I must have […] little care of myself, if I ever more come near the clutches of such a giant.

   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 57

     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.

3. A device to interrupt power transmission, commonly used to separate the engine and gearbox in a car. [from 19th c.]
4. The pedal in a car that disengages power and torque transmission from the engine (through the drivetrain) to the drive wheels.
5. Any device for gripping an object, as at the end of a chain or tackle.
6. A small handbag or purse with no straps or handle.
   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4

     The clutch which I had made to save myself in falling had torn away from 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.

Synonyms

• (small handbag): clutch bag

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Variant form of cletch, from Middle English cleken (“to hatch”), perhaps from Old Norse klekja (“to hatch”).

Noun

clutch (plural clutches) (collective)

1. A brood of chickens or a sitting of eggs. [from 18th c.]
2. A group or bunch (of people or things). [from 20th c.]
   • 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.

Derived terms

• clutch initiation
• subclutch

Translations

Verb

clutch (third-person singular simple present clutches, present participle clutching, simple past and past participle clutched)

1. (transitive) To hatch.

Etymology 3

Unknown; possibly analagous to clinch, pinch, which have similar senses.

Noun

clutch (plural clutches)

1. (US) An important or critical situation.

Translations

Adjective

clutch (comparative more clutch, superlative most clutch)

1. (US, Canada) Performing or tending to perform well in difficult, high-pressure situations.

Derived terms

• clutch artist
• clutch hitter

References

• clutch at OneLook Dictionary Search
• clutch in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• cultch

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• kløtsj

Etymology

From English clutch

Noun

clutch m (definite singular clutchen, indefinite plural clutcher, definite plural clutchene)

1. a clutch (device between engine and gearbox)
2. clutch pedal

   trå in clutchen - step on the clutch

Synonyms

• kobling
• kopling

References

• “clutch” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• kløtsj

Etymology

From English clutch

Noun

clutch m (definite singular clutchen, indefinite plural clutchar, definite plural clutchane)

1. a clutch (device between engine and gearbox)
2. (short form of) clutch pedal (as in English)

Synonyms

• kopling

References

• “clutch” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?klot??/, [?klot??]

Noun

clutch m (plural clutches)

1. Alternative form of cloche