Mar 30, 2020· To seize, as though with claws. [from 14th c.] to clutch power (Can we find and add a quotation of Collier to this entry?) A man may set the poles together in his head, and clutch the whole globe at one intellectual grasp. c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published ...