CLUE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Clue

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/klu/ Listen

noun

Clue, Clew n.

A ball of thread, yarn, or cord; also, The thread itself. "Untwisting his deceitful clew."

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."

(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.

Clue n. A ball of thread; a thread or other means of guidance. Same as Clew. "You have wound a goodly clue." "This clue once found unravels all the rest." "Serve as clues to guide us into further knowledge."

See images of 'Clue'

Etymology of 'Clue'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Clue" Quotes from Famous Books

... they won't start to search for me until some time to-morrow. When I don't show up at the game they'll think it's queer, and I suppose they'll fine me. I wouldn't mind that if they only come and find me. But how can they do it? There isn't a clue they could follow, as far as I know. ...

— Baseball Joe in the Big League - or, A Young Pitcher's Hardest Struggles • Lester Chadwick

... a queer communication, and only the fact of my chance meeting with the youngster in the Rue de Roi gave me anything like a clue as to ...

— My Sword's My Fortune - A Story of Old France • Herbert Hayens

... cast about vainly for a clue to the other's whereabouts; for if the night was thick in the open, here in the trench its density was as that of the pit; the man could distinguish positively nothing more than a pallid rift ...

— The False Faces • Vance, Louis Joseph

... assure you. But you give me so slight a clue. Are you quite sure she is not in America ...

— What Will He Do With It, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... I have one clue, and only one. I know his handwriting. If he puts his new false name upon a hotel register and does not disguise it too much, it will be valuable to me if I ...

— A Double Barrelled Detective Story • Mark Twain

More quotes...