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Clew   Listen
noun
Clue, Clew  n.  
1.
A ball of thread, yarn, or cord; also, The thread itself. "Untwisting his deceitful clew."
2.
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."
3.
(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.


verb
Clew  v. t.  (past & past part. clewed; pres. part. clewing)  
1.
To direct; to guide, as by a thread. (Obs.) "Direct and clew me out the way to happiness."
2.
(Naut.) To move of draw (a sail or yard) by means of the clew garnets, clew lines, etc.; esp. to draw up the clews of a square sail to the yard.
To clew down (Naut.), to force (a yard) down by hauling on the clew lines.
To clew up (Naut.), to draw (a sail) up to the yard, as for furling.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Clew" Quotes from Famous Books



... had been seen four weeks before from the coast of Candia, and were then steering southeast. This intelligence was corroborated by a vessel spoken the same day. Southeast, being nearly dead before the prevailing wind, was an almost certain clew to the destination of an unwieldy body which could never regain ground lost to leeward; so, although Nelson now learned that some of his missing frigates had also been seen recently off Candia, he would waste no time looking for them. It may be ...
— The Life of Nelson, Vol. I (of 2) - The Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain • A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan
... somehow, hanging on to the mast-hoops, buffeted and now and then enveloped by the madly flogging canvas, floundering below amidst a raffle of fallen gear, while the bitter spray lashed them, and the broken boom held up by the clew ring banged savagely to and fro. After that they trimmed her fore-staysail over, and there was by contrast a curious quietness as Dampier jammed his helm up, and the schooner swung off before the sea. Then somebody lighted a lantern, ...
— Hawtrey's Deputy • Harold Bindloss
... appeared before us, and mentioned the name of the dwarf, I could not have been more astonished. My steward was ignorant of my acquaintance with him, and Forrester had left England before it began. By what means, then, could Forrester have obtained a clew to him? It really looked like a stroke ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, July, 1851 • Various
... assume that this was one of the things the professional "strong-arm man" would not do. But it was also evident that he must speedily lose his identity if he hoped to escape; and the lost identity must leave no clew to itself. ...
— The Price • Francis Lynde
... Indian pony, apparently tireless, shot on like an arrow driven into the teeth of the wind, sending up behind a cloud of dust that stretched backward toward the baffled pursuers, a long wavering ribbon like a clew left to guide the band into the mysterious depths of ...
— Lahoma • John Breckenridge Ellis


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