clutch (up) v.
(US) to freeze up under pressure.
 | Science Digest Aug. 34: ‘Clutch’ [...] to be nervous or upset before, during or after any occasion of importance [HDAS]. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Current Sl. I:3 2/1: To fail completely under duress. | |
| Current Sl. III:1 5: Clutch, v. To panic or become tense. | |
| Big Bounce 123: [I]t wasn’t a game; it was real and maybe she could do it without clutching up, but how did she know until she had done it. | |
| Dock Ellis 34: [T]he superb athlete who never made it, because he clutched; who would excel in practice or in warm-up, but in the heat of battle drop the ball. |
In derivatives
(US) frightened, nervous, tense, awed, thus v. clutch up, to render tense.
| Petty Officer’s Guide 427: Clutched. (slang). All tensed up [HDAS]. | |
| (con. 1950) Band of Brothers 3: ‘Thought I saw something . . . like a shadow . . . movin’ . . . Goober and Firesteen [...] stared at the village. ‘You’re clutched up,’ Goober said. ‘I don’t see a thing.’. | |
| Where the Boys Are 5: If you come from the Midwest and have never seen it you are really clutched, that is, seized by emotion. [Ibid.] 138: I was double-clutched. I had no clue whether to laugh ... or cry. | |
| Going All the Way 244: He wasn’t clutched up at all [...] He hadn’t even got tongue-tied. | |
| Cat Chaser 160: If that’s what’s got you clutched up, don’t worry about it. |