Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A ball of yarn or thread.
- n. Greek Mythology The ball of thread used by Theseus to find his way out of the labyrinth.
- n. The cords by which a hammock is suspended.
- n. Nautical One of the two lower corners of a square sail.
- n. Nautical The lower aft corner of a fore-and-aft sail.
- n. Nautical A metal loop attached to the lower corner of a sail.
- v. To roll or coil into a ball.
- v. Nautical To raise the lower corners of (a square sail) by means of clew lines. Used with up.
- n. Chiefly British Variant of clue1.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- See clue.
Wiktionary
- n. A roughly spherical mass or body.
- n. A ball of thread or yarn.
- n. Yarn or thread as used to guide one's way through a maze or labyrinth; a guide, a clue.
- n. The lower corner(s) of a sail to which a sheet is attached for trimming the sail (adjusting its position relative to the wind); the metal loop or cringle in the corner of the sail, to which the sheet is attached. On a triangular sail, the clew is the trailing corner relative to the wind direction.
- n. The sheets so attached to a sail.
- n. The cords suspending a hammock.
- n. Clue.
- v. to roll into a ball
- v. to raise the lower corner(s) of (a sail)
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A ball of thread, yarn, or cord; also, The thread itself.
- n. That which guides or directs one in anything of a doubtful or intricate nature; that which gives a hint in the solution of a mystery.
- n. A lower corner of a square sail, or the after corner of a fore-and-aft sail.
- n. A loop and thimbles at the corner of a sail.
- n. A combination of lines or nettles by which a hammock is suspended.
- v. To direct; to guide, as by a thread.
- v. To move of draw (a sail or yard) by means of the clew garnets, clew lines, etc.; esp. to draw up the clews of a square sail to the yard.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a ball of yarn or cord or thread
- v. roll into a ball
- n. evidence that helps to solve a problem
Etymologies
- Middle English clewe, from Old English cliwen.
Examples
“Red Cow never saw Marcus O'Brien again, and though many conjectures were entertained, no certain clew was ever gained to dispel the mystery of his passing.”
“The only thing in the nature of a clew was a moccasin track, and that led to young McCrae, whom, for Sheila's sake, he did not wish to involve.”
“More and more I puzzled as the days went by, and though I observed perpetual examples of his undisputed sovereignty, never a clew was there as to how it was.”
“The square sails themselves are controlled by drawlines called clew-garnets running up from the lower corners, leechlines running in diagonally from the middle of the outside edges, buntlines running up from the foot, and spilling lines, to spill the wind in heavy {107} weather.”
“Far too many people sail to Mexico without having a 'clew' about how to properly reef or heave to.”
“But you can't hang a "clew" for murder, and so after that detective had got through and gone home, Tom felt just as insecure as he was before.”
“* Why should DMCA anti-reverse-engineering provisions apply to works that have already been elevated into the public domain? clew says:”
“Well, it was that bit of verse that gave me the clew.”
“No word, no clew, no hint, of the divine had ever reached him before.”
“I listened, but could get no clew as to where he was.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘clew’.
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The Whole Ball of Wax
Feel free to wax poetic.
the whole ball of..., wax poetic, wax, beeswax, ambergris, cedar waxwing, sealing wax, earwax, paraffin, bougie, epicuticular wax, waxing gibbous moon and 192 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
jmjarmstrong JM has a clue that a clew is more than a painter in a corner Oct 5, 2010
bilby
Thrashing through a tearing gale with a dark green sea ahead,
While the funnel clews sing madly against a sky of red,
Foam choked and wave choked, scarred by battered gear,
The long brown decks are whirling seas where silver combers rear.
- Gordon Malherbe Hillman, 'The Tankers'. Sep 23, 2009
chained_bear See another interesting usage on earing. Mar 5, 2008
sionnach Also, the ball of yarn that Ariadne gave to Theseus to help him escape the minotaur's labyrinth; origin of the word clue.
There is also a path planning algorithm known as Ariadne's clew. Nov 9, 2007
reesetee In nautical terms, either lower corner of a square sail or the after lower corner of a fore-and-aft sail. Nov 9, 2007
brtom S'pose he don't do nothing with it? ain't it there in his bed, for a clew, after he's gone? and don't you reckon they'll want clews? HF 35 Dec 8, 2006