Clutch (pronounced kluhch)
(1) To seize with or as with the hands or claws; snatch.
(2) To grip or hold tightly or firmly.
(3) In slang, to spellbind; grip a person's emotions, attention, or interest; to become tense with fright or panic (both archaic and rare outside US).
(4) To operate the clutch in a vehicle.
(5) The hand, claw, etc when grasping.
(6) Power of disposal or control; mastery (usually in the plural).
(7) The act of clutching; a snatch or grasp; a tight grip or hold.
(8) A device for gripping something.
(9) In automotive and other machinery, a mechanism for readily engaging or disengaging a shaft with or from another shaft or rotating part (a specialized form of coupling); a control, usually a pedal, for operating this mechanism.
(10) In sports, an extremely important or crucial moment of a game (rare outside US).
(11) Any critical position or situation; emergency (rare outside US).
(12) A small purse that can be carried in the hand and usually has no handle or strap (also called clutch bag).
(13) In poultry production, a hatch of eggs; the number of eggs produced or incubated at one time; a brood of chickens.
(14) One of several collective nouns for books or dancers.
1175–1225: A variant of (the now Northern English dialectal) cletch, from the Middle English clucchen, clicchen, cluchen, clechen & cleken, a variant of clicchen, from the Old English clyccan (bring together, bend (the fingers), clench), akin to the Scots cleck (to hatch) from the Old Norse klekja (to hatch) and related to the Old Frisian kletsie (spear) & the Swedish klyka (clasp, fork). It was cognate with the Irish glac (hand). The origins of the English verb were Germanic, the source the Proto-Germanic klukjaną, from the Proto-Germanic klu- (to ball up, conglomerate, amass), from the primitive Indo-European glew- (to ball up; lump, mass). It was cognate with the Swedish klyka (clamp, fork, branch). The noun is from Middle English cleche, cloche, & cloke (claw, talon, hand), related to the Scots cleuk, cluke & cluik (claw, talon), of uncertain origin, with the form probably assimilated to the verb.
The meaning "to grasp" is early fourteenth century; that of "to seize with the claws or clutches" from later that century. The sense of "hold tightly and close" is from circa 1600, influenced by the Middle English cloke (a claw) whereas "a brood, the number of eggs incubated at any one time" (in reference to chickens) dates from 1721 and is a (southern England) dialectal variant of cletch (1690s), noun from the verb cleck which is from the 1400s Middle English clekken (to hatch, give birth to), most likely from a Scandinavian source such as the Old Norse klekja (to hatch), perhaps of imitative origin in the same way as cluck. The original meaning (a grip, grasp, tight hold) dates from circa 1200, the form clutches (in the sense of “the hands" suggesting grasping rapacity or cruelty) not emerging until the 1520s. A product of the industrial revolution, the mechanical clutch (movable mechanical coupling or locking and unlocking contrivance for transmitting motion) is from 1814 with the "seizing" sense extended to "a coupling device for bringing working parts together". Originally applied to the static machines in mills, it was first used to describe the transmissions (as the coupling between crankshaft and gearbox) in 1899. The now rare meaning "moment when heroics are required" is attested from the 1920s but never gained currency outside the US
The clutch purse
The modern definition of a “clutch” is a handbag without handles but with a detachable (sometimes a chain) strap and (usually) rectangular in shape. Most often an evening bag, they can be used during the day, the most defining characteristics being they’re slim and primarily hand-held. Bags and purses predate pockets and the clutch bag seems to have been a very early solution to the problem of carrying small, high-value possessions. Evidence survives in the historic record in paintings and tapestries but few examples remain extant because almost all were made from perishable materials, a seven-hundred year old relic on display at London’s Courtauld Gallery the oldest known to exist.
For her much anticipated appearances at the Cannes film Festival, Salma Hayek has over the years made the clutch purse her signature accessory, guaranteeing attention from the photographers.
In many parts of the world, clutch bags never went away but in the west, the increasing emancipation in the nineteenth century meant bags became larger and the clutch all but disappeared. It was the resurgence of classical style dresses in the 1920s which led to its revival because it was an ideal accessory for the diaphanous flapper dresses of the era, a style which didn’t detract from the line of the body. They’ve not since faded from popularity and are now an essential fashion accessory, performing also the socially invaluable function of giving the hands something to do. Because clutch purses so often tend to the rectangular in all aspects, they’re often styled using the motifs associated with the art deco era of the early-mid twentieth century and most designers seem to favor the elaborate, decorative styles of the earlier (pre 1929 Wall Street crash) art deco. Given the small size of a clutch purse, this can be a challenge to implement but so can the more simplified plays of flattened and stylized geometric shapes or abstract patterns.
Cadillac,
Ferrari and the clutch pedal
Although not all early Ferraris were so equipped and by 1976 the 400 GT was even offered with an automatic transmission (General Motors’ famously robust Turbo-Hydramatic 400), the open-gate shift was for decades a motif associated with the marque. However, advances in hydraulics and electronics meant that by the early twenty-first century, the inefficiencies and technical disadvantages attached to automatic transmissions had been overcome to the point where no Ferrari with a manual transmission, however expertly driven, could match their performance. Using automatic transmissions meant a clutch pedal was no longer necessary but it didn’t mean clutches were deleted; instead they were automated. Scuderia Ferrari first used the technology in the Tipo 640 Formula One car in 1989 and any doubts about its speed or reliability were quickly allayed, the machine winning at its maiden appearance in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Development continued and in 1997, the automated system, dubbed F1, was offered as an option in the F355, the first road car so equipped, the electro-hydraulic system operated by paddles behind the steering wheel linked to the F355's otherwise conventional 6-speed manual transmission.
It
certainly started a trend and paddles quickly become almost a de rigueur piece
of technology for high-performance cars, the occasional old style, three-pedal
model released only to cater for the dwindling number of drivers who enjoyed
the experience of the way things used to be done. In Ferrari dealerships, the numbers dwindled
fast and the last Ferrari with a manual transmission was sold in 2012, the replacement a dual-clutch transmission (also called twin-clutch or
double-clutch) which used two separate clutches for odd and even gear-sets although the separate transmissions had their
respective clutches contained in one housing, working as a single unit. The model which enjoyed the distinction of
providing a swansong for the old open gate was the California. Upon release in 2008 it was estimated between
5-10% of buyers would opt for a clutch pedal but, between then and
late 2011, a mere three were ordered (some sources say two or five but the factory
insists it was three).
2012 Ferrari California (top) and 2012 Cadillac CTS-V sedan.
So the last decade at Maranello has been automatic (technically “automated manual transmission”) all the way and although a consequence of the quest for ultimate performance, it wasn’t anything dictatorial and had customer demand existed at a sustainable level, the factory would have continued to supply manual transmissions. Amusingly, Cadillac had in 2004 begun offering a model with a manual transmission for the first time since the 1953 Series 75 (among the Cadillac crowd the Cimarron (1982-1988) is never spoken of except in the phrase "the unpleasantness of 1982" ) and by 2013, while one could buy a Cadillac with a clutch pedal, one could not buy such a Ferrari. For most of the second half of the twentieth century, few would have thought that anything but improbable or unthinkable.
Whether that’s going to change isn’t certain but in 2025 Ferrari disclosed the idea was being considered. Not only have there been requests from “customers in good standing with the factory” but also it will have been noted a niche industry has emerged where specialists convert the paddle-shifted into cars with the traditional gated transmission, complete with a clutch pedal. In some cases this is done exclusively with the use of genuine Ferrari parts while others use a mix of those and some machined as replicas; either way the build costs tens of thousands of dollars so it’s easy to see why the feeling in Maranello may be there’s a lucrative gap in the market. It’s not that Ferrari’s view about the technical superiority of the automated transmission has changed, just that the laws of physics and the realities of human physiology interact to impose a limit on the performance it’s possible for modern cars to attain. While years of technological advances and investments in engineering probably could make cars quicker and faster, Ferraris in their present form already offer performance beyond what most drivers safely can exploit (certainly on public roads). Indeed, Ferrari note the AWD (all-wheel-drive) SF90 XX already is within two-tenths of a second of the 2.3 seconds the current Formula One race car takes for the 0-100 km/h (0—60 mph) run and there’s little point in pushing further in this direction because the Formula One drivers of today have a very different physiology from those of earlier generations because of the specific muscle development required to withstand the stresses and G-forces. A typical human simply wouldn’t cope.
In the Ferrari boardroom, when pondering the return of the gated transmission, the 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 428 probably won't much be discussed but the principle is the same: The three-speed automatic (left) is quicker while the four-speed manual (right) is more fun.
So while the focus on ultimate performance might be restricted to a handful of special models, the famous gated shifter might make a comeback, not because it’s better but because it’s more fun. In the post-war years the British manufacturers sold to Americans shiploads of their underpowered, antiquated roadsters, not because they were fast but because they were so entertaining to drive and the collector market does support the allure: all else being equal, between a Ferrari with a gated shift and an otherwise identical one with paddles, it’s the one with the clutch pedal which will command a premium. That preference extends to other segments such as the Porsche 911 & Jaguar E-Type and while with that pair the manual gearbox offers both higher speeds and more fun, even though many US muscle cars were in the 1960s & 1970s ordered with automatic gearboxes because that was the quickest way along a drag-strip’s ¼ mile, it’s now the ones with a four-speed manual which are most sought. The attraction for Ferrari is of course that fun can be just another packaged commodity on the option list and if it does re-appear, the gated transmission is expected to be expensive because while its old technology, it needs to be profitable and the factory are well acquainted with the margins options offer. On the 2019 812 Superfast for example, in addition to the MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price) of US$561,272, buyers could tick the box for, inter alia, the AFS (Adaptive Front Lights) & SBL (Static Bending Lights) combo (US$3,375), yellow brake calipers (US$1,519), a pair of cloisonné prancing horse fender shields (US$15,000), carbon-fibre dashboard inserts (US$7,593) and a golf bag matching the interior trim (US$10,000). All those were cheaper than matte paint (US$40,000) but Bentley charge US$160,000 for a Breitling clock so it’s not unreasonable to expect a Ferrari gated shift to list well into six figures and to "test the waters", at least initially, availability will be restricted to a single model although, as the "customer is always right", if demand clearly exists, supply will follow.
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