clew up

British

verb

(adverb) nautical to furl (a square sail) by gathering its clews up to the yard by means of clew lines

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

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

Stand boldly in until abreast of the big rock at the mouth of the bight, when clew up and furl everything.

From The Castaways by Dugdale, Thomas Cantrell

Every man and boy was at his station, ready to clew up and haul down directly the ship should be free, and again exposed to the fury of the gale.

From Archibald Hughson An Arctic Story by Kingston, William Henry Giles

Royal and topgallant halliards and sheets let go; clew up and furl!

From A Middy of the King A Romance of the Old British Navy by Hodgson, Edward S.

It was not until we had approached him near enough to send a shot whizzing across his bow, that he consented to clew up, and heave to.

From Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States by Semmes, Raphael

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023