clutch pedal
1
3.9
- noun
- /klʌtʃ ˈpɛdəl/
- Specialized
:
pedal de embrague
- To change gears smoothly, you need to press the clutch pedal with your left foot.
- foot on the clutch pedal
This car has paddle shifters, but it also has a clutch pedal.
- This car has paddle shifters, but it also has a clutch pedal.
Examples
-
If you want to stop the car while in gear, remember to press the clutch pedal first.
-
When driving a manual car, always depress the clutch pedal before shifting to a different gear.
-
You shift the gear, boom, the the clutch pedal is so good and so easy to use.
-
She stood up and pushed farther down on the clutch pedal, finally moving the stick shift into third gear.
Fiction book (2000) -
The bare metal clutch pedal clanked as Douglas pushed it to the floor and threw the truck into gear.
Blog text (32) -
I slipped on snow-dusted ice yesterday—direct hit to the left kneecap—and can barely depress the clutch pedal.
Fiction book (1995)
Synonyms
39
4.1
A pedal in a car that connects or disconnects the engine from the gears
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a transparent compound: 'clutch' (the device linking engine and transmission) combined with 'pedal' (a foot-operated lever) yields the predictable meaning 'the pedal used to operate the clutch.' The construction is compositional and mirrored in many languages (e.g. Spanish 'pedal del embrague'), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Clutch pedal comes from a simple, literal picture: the clutch is the part that 'grabs' and 'releases' the engine from the gears, and the pedal is the foot part you press. So, pressing the clutch pedal 'disconnects' the engine so you can 'change gears', which is why the name says exactly what the part does.