Clew

//kluː// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A roughly spherical mass or body. obsolete

    "If the whole troupe be diuided into many clewes, or round bunches, you need not then doubt but that there are many kings."

  2. 2
    evidence that helps to solve a problem wordnet
  3. 3
    A ball of thread or yarn. archaic

    "[O]nely ſinne And helliſh obſtinacie tye thy tongue That truth ſhould be ſuſpected, ſpeake, iſ't ſo? If it be ſo, you haue wound a goodly clewe: If it be not, forſweare't how ere I charge thee, As heauen ſhall work in me for thine auaile To tell me truelie."

  4. 4
    a ball of yarn or cord or thread wordnet
  5. 5
    Yarn or thread as used to guide one's way through a maze or labyrinth; a guide, a clue.
Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    The lower corner(s) of a sail to which a sheet is attached for trimming the sail (adjusting its position relative to the wind); the metal loop or cringle in the corner of the sail, to which the sheet is attached. (on a triangular sail) The trailing corner relative to the wind direction.

    "'Mid the rattle of blocks and the tramp of the crew, Hisses the rain of the rushing squall; The sails are aback from clew to clew, And now is the moment for "MAINSAIL, HAUL!""

  2. 7
    The sheets so attached to a sail. in-plural

    "The canvas running up in a proud sweep, Wind-wrinkled at the clews, and white like lint,"

  3. 8
    The cords suspending a hammock. in-plural

    "He taught us how to attach the clews to the ends of the hammock and then lash it between jack stays."

  4. 9
    Obsolete spelling of clue. alt-of, obsolete

    "With this clew, let us endeavour to unravel this character of Herod as here given."

Verb
  1. 1
    to roll into a ball transitive
  2. 2
    roll into a ball wordnet
  3. 3
    to raise the lower corner(s) of (a sail) intransitive, transitive

Synonyms

All synonyms
agglomerateballbuntcanvasclothclue

Example

More examples

"Their boat's sail tore near the clew."

Etymology

From Middle English clewe, from Old English cleowen, cliewen, cliwen (“sphere, ball, skein; ball of thread or yarn; mass, group”), from Proto-Germanic *kliuwiną, *klewô (“ball, bale”), from Proto-Indo-European *glew- (“to conglomerate, gather into a mass; clump, ball, bale”). Akin to Old English clǣġ (“clay”). Doublet of knawel.

Related phrases

clew downclew upfull clewclew garnet

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.