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Clew   Listen
noun
Clue, Clew  n.  
1.
A ball of thread, yarn, or cord; also, The thread itself. "Untwisting his deceitful clew."
2.
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. "The clew, without which it was perilous to enter the vast and intricate maze of countinental politics, was in his hands."
3.
(Naut.)
(a)
A lower corner of a square sail, or the after corner of a fore-and-aft sail.
(b)
A loop and thimbles at the corner of a sail.
(c)
A combination of lines or nettles by which a hammock is suspended.
Clew garnet (Naut.), one of the ropes by which the clews of the courses of square-rigged vessels are drawn up to the lower yards.
Clew line (Naut.), a rope by which a clew of one of the smaller square sails, as topsail, topgallant sail, or royal, is run up to its yard.
Clew-line block (Naut.), The block through which a clew line reeves.


verb
Clew  v. t.  (past & past part. clewed; pres. part. clewing)  
1.
To direct; to guide, as by a thread. (Obs.) "Direct and clew me out the way to happiness."
2.
(Naut.) 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.
To clew down (Naut.), to force (a yard) down by hauling on the clew lines.
To clew up (Naut.), to draw (a sail) up to the yard, as for furling.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Clew" Quotes from Famous Books



... asked himself where he had seen such an eye and brow and shambling walk as that; and he fell into a brown study and groped among many years for the clew. ...
— It Is Never Too Late to Mend • Charles Reade
... so, making sail with all possible speed, got clear away. Meantime a shot had brought the Norfolk to on the Falmouth's starboard bow, where she was immediately boarded. On her decks an ominous state of things prevailed. Her crew would not assist to clew up the sails, the anchor had been seized to the chain-plates and could not be let go, and when the gang from the Falmouth attempted to cut the buoy ropes with which it was secured, the "crew attacked them with hatchets ...
— The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore • John R. Hutchinson
... about, anyhow?" asked Jim Cranby. "I ain't heard nothing about it." He had stood in open-mouthed perplexity trying to catch a clew. Coming ...
— Other Main-Travelled Roads • Hamlin Garland
... who shall lift that wand of magic power, And the lost clew regain? The unfinished window in Aladdin's ...
— Yesterdays with Authors • James T. Fields
... sent the warning to me. I called on him, learned the plans of Bill and Jed, and we sent for the detectives. The latter, we learned, were about to make an arrest anyhow, but it was of the men who really printed the bogus tickets. They hadn't a clew, as yet, to Bill and Jed, who were the real backers of the game. The detectives came on, disguised themselves with us, and we caught the scoundrels in the very act. Now ...
— Joe Strong The Boy Fire-Eater - The Most Dangerous Performance on Record • Vance Barnum


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