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
Immediately afterward, with her crew standing by to clew up the foretopsails, the backstays part and the We're Here's mainmast goes overside, carrying with it Manuel in a tangle of canvas, cable and running gear.
From Time Magazine Archive
He trips between his Philadelphia and Manhattan homes on the clew of precious printed matter or autographs.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Indianapolis Star spells it "clew," the Indianapolis News "clue."
From Time Magazine Archive
No clew presented itself, nothing whatever was discovered.
From Woven with the Ship A Novel of 1865 by Cyrus Townsend Brady
Looking for clews, the police found a large wooden chest.
From Time Magazine Archive
There were no other clews to his identity or his murderer.
From Time Magazine Archive
What a maze, what a tangle the world is till we come to look upon it with the clews and solutions in mind which science affords!
From Bird Neighbors An Introductory Acquaintance with One Hundred and Fifity Birds Commonly Found in the Gardens, Meadows, and Woods About Our Homes by Neltje Blanchan
Because the clews and things, in a story, are all put there for him by the property man.
From In the Onyx Lobby by Carolyn Wells
Stay-sails, braces, top-gallants, clews, and capstans they hurled at each other like bon bons at a carnival; and this naval engagement lasted from daylight to dark.
From Nuts and Nutcrackers by Charles James Lever
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
She then ran up that “flaunting lie,” the “old flag,” and clewed up her topgallant sails, and hauled up her courses, and submitted to her fate, with such resignation as she might.
From Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States by Raphael Semmes
Instantly the captain ordered the sails to be clewed up.
From Old Jack by William Henry Giles Kingston
Cousin Silas hurried on deck, and, taking a glance round, ordered the helm to be put up again, the yards to be squared, and the courses which had been clewed up to be let fall.
From A Voyage round the World A book for boys by William Henry Giles Kingston
While some stripped the yards and clewed up the sails, others battened down the hatches, looked to the lashings of the boats, and made everything fast.
From Harper's Young People, April 27, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly by Various
Bruin met the attack by clewing himself into a round ball.
From Lost Lenore The Adventures of a Rolling Stone by Charles A. Beach
With great skill our pilot tried a "flying moor," letting our anchor go while we were forging ahead at a good rate, then immediately clewing up all sail.
From The Log of a Sea-Waif Being Recollections of the First Four Years of My Sea Life by Frank T. Bullen
However, by keeping her away, and clewing up every thing, she righted.
But then, if no second squall is coming, the mate will cut the clewing short with a stentorian 'Masthead the yards again!' on which the watch lay on to the halliards and haul—Ahay!
From All Afloat A Chronicle of Craft and Waterways by William Charles Henry Wood
But even then, with the utmost exertion of every man and boy on board, we barely succeeded in clewing all up.
From The Lieutenant and Commander Being Autobigraphical Sketches of His Own Career, from Fragments of Voyages and Travels by Basil Hall
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.
