clew
Americannoun
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clue.
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Nautical. either lower corner of a square sail or the after lower corner of a fore-and-aft sail.
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a ball or skein of thread, yarn, etc.
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Usually clews. the rigging for a hammock.
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Theater. a metal device holding scenery lines controlled by one weighted line.
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Classical Mythology. the thread by which Theseus found his way out of the labyrinth.
verb (used with object)
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clews,
present (3rd person singular)
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clewed,
past participle, past
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clewing
present participle
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to coil into a ball.
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clue.
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Theater.
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to draw up the bottom edge of (a curtain, drop, etc.) and fold out of view; bag.
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to secure (lines) with a clew.
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verb phrase
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clew down to secure (a sail) in an unfurled position.
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clew up to haul (the lower corners of a square-rig sail) up to the yard by means of the clew lines.
idioms
noun
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a ball of thread, yarn, or twine
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nautical either of the lower corners of a square sail or the after lower corner of a fore-and-aft sail
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(usually plural) the rigging of a hammock
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a rare variant of clue
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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clewsimple
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clewssimple
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have clewedperfect
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has clewedperfect
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am clewingprogressive
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are clewingprogressive
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is clewingprogressive
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have been clewingperfect progressive
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has been clewingperfect progressive
Past
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clewedsimple
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had clewedperfect
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was clewingprogressive
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were clewingprogressive
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had been clewingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of clew
before 900; Middle English clewe, Old English cleowen, cliewen, equivalent to cliew- (cognate with Old High German kliu ball) + -en -en 5; akin to Dutch kluwen
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In the tradition of all great shaggy-dog stories, Hanif throws into the mix a few more potential sources of blame, including a clew of tapeworms and a mango-eating bird.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 4, 2015
He trips between his Philadelphia and Manhattan homes on the clew of precious printed matter or autographs.
From Time Magazine Archive
Just one-quarter mile from the finish line, Gretel's light blue Genoa jib tore loose from its main clew and flopped overboard.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Indianapolis Star spells it "clew," the Indianapolis News "clue."
From Time Magazine Archive
Well, then, I think I have hit on a sort of a clew to the Ogilvey part of the mystery, at any rate.
From The House 'Round the Corner by Louis Tracy
There were no other clews to his identity or his murderer.
From Time Magazine Archive
Looking for clews, the police found a large wooden chest.
From Time Magazine Archive
I feel that where there are paintings there may be clews.
From The Key to Yesterday by Charles Neville Buck
There is a place down the river where he thinks it might once have existed, but he has no clews of any kind.”
From The River Motor Boat Boys on the St. Lawrence The Lost Channel by Harry Gordon
Nowhere was there a trace of the twins; and after a two weeks’ search, and a fruitless following of clews that were no clews at all, even Margaret was forced sorrowfully to acknowledge defeat.
From The Turn of the Tide The Story of How Margaret Solved Her Problem by Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter
He clewed Wilson's pennant to his editorial page of Harper's Weekly and saluted it each week with all the ardor of a discoverer.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mr Gale flew to the helm, and put it down, while we flattened in the topsail-braces, and clewed up top-gallant-sails, and brailed up the courses, throwing the foretop-sail aback.
From Old Jack by William Henry Giles Kingston
Behind was the gun—Allerdyce's gun—and beyond that the open defenceless port, the waiting men clewed there by their duty—and the girls!
From A Tatter of Scarlet Adventurous Episodes of the Commune in the Midi 1871 by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
Sails were being clewed up, yards were being swung round.
From The Story of Charles Strange, Vol. 3 (of 3) A Novel by Mrs. Henry Wood
“Try them a little longer;” but another squall came suddenly—the halyards were lowered, and the sails clewed up and furled.
From Mr. Midshipman Easy by Frederick Marryat
She has to take in her sails, one by one, owing to her being short-handed, and “the clewing up,” and “hauling down” occupy some minutes.
From Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States by Raphael Semmes
He had just uttered these words, when we saw the other vessel's studding-sails coming down her royals and top-gallant-sails clewing up, and all the usual signs of her stripping for a fight.
From Afloat and Ashore A Sea Tale by James Fenimore Cooper
Of these, one which ran contrary to current standards was in favor of clewing up a course or topsail to leeward, in blowing weather.
From From Sail to Steam, Recollections of Naval Life by A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan
Bruin met the attack by clewing himself into a round ball.
From Lost Lenore The Adventures of a Rolling Stone by Charles A. Beach
The smoke cleared away, and the schooner's foretopsail, which she was in the act of clewing up, lay over her side.
From The Pirate, and The Three Cutters by Edmund J. (Edmund Joseph) Sullivan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
