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1676, Ed[ward] Stillingfleet, “An Answer to T[homas] G[odden]’s Charge of Contradictions, Paradoxes, Reproach of the Second Council of Nice, School Disputes; and to His Parallel Instances”, in A Discourse Concerning the Idolatry Practised in the Church of Rome,, London: Robert White for Henry Mortlock, →OCLC, part II (Being a Particular Defence of the Charge of Idolatry against the Church of Rome in the Worship of Images), page 786:
I muſt have great leiſure, and little care of my ſelf, if I ever more come near the Clutches of ſuch a Giant, who ſeems to write with a Beetle inſtead of a Pen; […]
Should when he pleaſes, and on whom he will / Wage war, with any or with no pretence / Of provocation, giv'n or wrong ſuſtained, / And force the beggarly laſt doit, by means / That his own humour dictates, from the clutch / Of poverty, that thus he may procure / His thouſands weary of penurious life / A ſplendid opportunity to die?
The more cunning heads thought it was all an expiring clutch at popularity, on the part of a Minister, whom domestic embarrassments, court intrigues, old age, and dropsy soon afterward finally drove from the helm.
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.
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.
1951 October 8, “Baseball: A Great Year”, in LIFE, page 48:
And when it came to the clutch, Johnny Mize, who was washed up five years ago, would crack out a pinch double, or Mickey Mantle, who is not yet ready for the big leagues, would slam out a home run.
1985 June 1, Johannes Telesaar, “Camarillo Loses in the 4-A Final by a Foot at First”, in Los Angeles Times:
He is the player who has come through so often in the clutch during his days at Camarillo.
2013 May 14, Paul Ingrassia, Joseph B. White, Comeback: The Fall & Rise of the American Automobile Industry, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:
Stempel came through in the clutch again. GM's across-the-board launch of the catalytic converter was a coup that left Ford and Chrysler gaspind in the dust.
2016 May 1, Frank Bruni, “Jodie Foster Is Still Afraid of Failure”, in The New York Times:
But not just strong women: women who don’t turn to a man in the clutch; women whose strength is inseparable from the walls they’ve built around themselves.
(US,Canada) Performing or tending to perform well in difficult, high-pressure situations.
2006, Bryan Hogan, Three Days for Goodbye, page 19:
NC State made the most of their overtime possession scoring a touchdown on some very clutch plays.
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.
2009, Mark Stewart, Clutch Performers, →ISBN, page 34:
1976, Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene, Kindle edition, OUP Oxford, published 2016, page 82:
For instance, baby chicks influence their mother’s behaviour by giving high piercing cheeps when they are lost or cold. This usually has the immediate effect of summoning the mother, who leads the chick back to the main clutch.
2012 September 22, “Innovation in Government: Britain's Local Labs”, in The Economist:
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.
2021 February 3, Drachinifel, 15:30 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - Santa Cruz (IJN 2 : 2 USN), archived from the original on 4 December 2022:
And, so, although the Zeros knocked out four dive bombers (two of them permanently and two forced to abort), the other eleven made it to a position above Shōkaku, which pulled a neat evasive turn that sent the first clutch of thousand-pound bombs into the sea.