clutch
n. countablen. a part in a car or machine that you press to change gears. It connects and disconnects the engine from the wheels.
n. a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In automotive contexts, it refers specifically to the pedal or mechanism used to facilitate gear changes.
You must press the clutch before you change gears.
The driver felt the clutch slipping as the car struggled to accelerate up the steep hill.
Modern dual-clutch transmissions use two separate clutches for odd and even gear sets, allowing for near-instantaneous shifts without the interruption of power typical of manual systems.
From Middle English clucchen, clicchen, cluchen, clechen, cleken, from Old English clyċċan (“to clutch, clench”), from Proto-West Germanic klukkjan, from Proto-Germanic klukjaną, 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 clyċċan from Proto-Germanic klēk- (“claw, hand”), from Proto-Indo-European glēk-, *ǵlēḱ- (“claw, hand; to clutch, snatch”). If so, then cognate with Irish glac (“hand”).
Variant form of cletch, from Middle English cleken (“to hatch”), perhaps from Old Norse klekja (“to hatch”).
Often used with the verbs 'engage', 'disengage', or 'release'.