trzymać kurczowo in English:

The car stalled because you didn't step on the clutch.

He'll clutch at any straw.

She clutched his hand.

She was clutching a bottle of champagne.

To grasp (something) tightly is called to clutch

He died, clutching his stomach.

Push the clutch down with your left foot.

The preschooler clutched his mother tightly.

But Bell cannot be freed entirely from the clutches of the Bloomsbury set,

I took my foot off the clutch

She inserted the key, pressed the clutch and turned the wheel.

The lorry needs a new clutch.

Dudley had a crisp twenty-pound note clutched in his fat fist

He was desperatly clutching to the edge

Repeatedly slamming the clutch pedal, I somehow managed to get the clutch disengaged so I could just about drive for the time being.