different between scratch vs clutch

English

Etymology

From Middle English scracchen, of uncertain origin. Probably a blend of Middle English scratten (“to scratch”) and cracchen (“to scratch”). More at scrat and cratch.

Pronunciation

• enPR: skr?ch, IPA^(key): /sk?æt?/
• Rhymes: -æt?

Verb

scratch (third-person singular simple present scratches, present participle scratching, simple past and past participle scratched)

1. To rub a surface with a sharp object, especially by a living creature to remove itching with nails, claws, etc.
   • 1733, Jonathan Swift, On Poetry, a Rhapsody

     Be mindful, when invention fails, / To scratch your head, and bite your nails.

2. To rub the skin with rough material causing a sensation of irritation; to cause itching.
   1. For a man, when kissing someone, to irritate the skin of that person with one's unshaven beard.
3. To mark a surface with a sharp object, thereby leaving a scratch (noun).

4. To cross out, strike out, strike through some text on a page.
   1. Hence, to remove, ignore or delete.

5. (music) To produce a distinctive sound on a turntable by moving a vinyl record back and forth while manipulating the crossfader (see also scratching).
6. (billiards) To commit a foul in pool, as where the cue ball is put into a pocket or jumps off the table.

7. (billiards, dated, US) To score, not by skillful play but by some fortunate chance of the game.
8. To write or draw hastily or awkwardly; scrawl.
9. (transitive, intransitive) To dig or excavate with the claws.

10. To dig or scrape (a person's skin) with claws or fingernails in self-defense or with the intention to injure.

Synonyms

• scrattle

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

scratch (countable and uncountable, plural scratches)

1. A disruption, mark or shallow cut on a surface made by scratching.
   • 1677-1684, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick Exercises

     The coarse file […] makes deep scratches in the work.

   • 1709, Matthew Prior, Henry and Emma, line 503

     These nails with scratches deform my breast.
2. An act of scratching the skin to alleviate an itch or irritation.

3. (sports)
   1. A starting line (originally and simply, a line scratched in the ground), as in boxing.

      (Can we find and add a quotation of Grose to this entry?)

   2. A technical error of touching or surpassing the starting mark prior to the official start signal in the sporting events of long jump, discus, hammer throw, shot put, and similar. Originally the starting mark was a scratch on the ground but is now a board or precisely indicated mark.
   3. (cycling) The last riders to depart in a handicap race.
   4. (billiards) An aberration.
      1. A foul in pool, as where the cue ball is put into a pocket or jumps off the table.
      2. (archaic, US, slang) A shot which scores by chance and not as intended by the player; a fluke.
   5. (horse racing) A horse withdrawn from a race prior to the start.

4. (slang) Money.
   • 2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador 2007, p. 153:

     He and Bruce cooked up a script together, and Bruce flew home to raise the scratch.

5. A feed, usually a mixture of a few common grains, given to chickens.
6. (in the plural) Minute, but tender and troublesome, excoriations, covered with scabs, upon the heels of horses which have been used where it is very wet or muddy.
   • 1887, James Law, The Farmer's Veterinary Adviser

     These are exemplified in the scurfy, scaly affections which appear in the bend of the knee (mallenders) and hock (sallenders) and on the lower parts of the limbs, by scratches, and by a scaly exfoliation […].

7. (now historical) A scratch wig.
   • 1775, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin 2001, 26 March:

     [H]e turned to him with a dejected Face, and said ‘ – pray Sir, – could you touch up This a little?’ taking hold of his frightful scratch.

8. (music) A genre of Virgin Islander music, better known as fungi.

Synonyms

• (Virgin Islander music): fungi, quelbe

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

scratch (not comparable)

1. For or consisting of preliminary or tentative, incomplete, etc. work.

2. Hastily assembled, arranged or constructed, from whatever materials are to hand, with little or no preparation
   • 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford 2004, p. 740:

     Bluecoats began crossing the James on June 14 and next day two corps approached Petersburg, which was held by Beauregard with a scratch force of 2,500.

3. (computing, from scratchpad) Relating to a data structure or recording medium attached to a machine for testing or temporary use.
4. (sports) (of a player) Of a standard high enough to play without a handicap, i.e. to compete without the benefit of a variation in scoring based on ability.

Derived terms

• scratch sheet

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “scratch”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
• The Jargon File - Scratch

French

Etymology

From English scratch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sk?at?/

Noun

scratch m (plural scratchs)

1. Velcro

Synonyms

• velcro

Italian

Etymology

From English scratch.

Noun

scratch m (invariable)

1. (music) scratch

Spanish

Etymology

From English scratch.

Noun

scratch m (plural scratchs)

1. (music) scratch

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