breed vs clutch

breed

noun
  • A group of people with shared characteristics. 

  • A race or lineage; offspring or issue. 

  • All animals or plants of the same species or subspecies. 

verb
  • To produce offspring sexually; to bear young. 

  • To arrange the mating of specific animals. 

  • To produce or obtain by any natural process. 

  • To have birth; to be produced, developed or multiplied. 

  • To yield or result in. 

  • To ejaculate inside; to attempt to impregnate. 

  • Of animals, to mate. 

  • To take care of in infancy and through childhood; to bring up. 

  • To propagate or grow plants trying to give them certain qualities. 

  • To give birth to; to be the native place of. 

  • To educate; to instruct; to bring up 

  • To keep animals and have them reproduce in a way that improves the next generation’s qualities. 

clutch

noun
  • A group or bunch (of people or things). 

  • The claw of a predatory animal or bird. 

  • An important or critical situation. 

  • A brood of chickens or a sitting of eggs. 

  • A device to interrupt power transmission, commonly used to separate the engine and gearbox in a car. 

  • A fastener that attaches to the back of a tack pin to secure an accessory to clothing. (See Clutch (pin fastener).) 

  • A small handbag or purse with no straps or handle. 

  • Any device for gripping an object, as at the end of a chain or tackle. 

  • A grip, especially one seen as rapacious or evil. 

  • The pedal in a car that disengages power and torque transmission from the engine (through the drivetrain) to the drive wheels. 

  • A difficult maneuver 

verb
  • To unexpectedly or luckily succeed in a difficult activity. 

  • To hatch. 

  • To seize, as though with claws. 

  • To grip or grasp tightly. 

  • To win in a 1vX (one versus X) situation. 

adj
  • Performing or tending to perform well in difficult, high-pressure situations. 

How often have the words breed and clutch occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )