clew

Etymology

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”).

noun

1. (obsolete) A roughly spherical mass or body.
   If the whole troupe be diuided into many clewes, or round bunches, you need not then doubt but that there are many kings. c. 1600, Charles Estienne and Jean Liebault, tr. Richard Surflet, Maison Rustique, or, The Countrie Farme
2. (archaic) A ball of thread or yarn.
   A rare, precious, and never interrupted race of philosophers to whom wisdom, like another Ariadne, seems to have given a clew of thread which they have been walking along unwinding since the beginning of the world, through the labyrinth of human affairs. 1831, Victor Hugo, translated by Isabel Florence Hapgood, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
   The Fairy Paribanou was at that time very hard at work, and, as she had several clews of thread by her, she took up one, and, presenting it to Prince Ahmed, said: "First take this clew of thread... 1889, Andrew Lang, “The story of Prince Ahmed and the fairy Paribanou”, in The Blue Fairy Book
   on one side of her lay a pair of carpet slippers and on the other a ball of red wool, the leading filament of which she would tug at every now and then with the immemorial elbow jerk of a Zemblan knitter to give a turn to her yarn clew and slacken the thread. 1962, Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire
3. Yarn or thread as used to guide one's way through a maze or labyrinth; a guide, a clue.
4. (nautical) 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!" 1858, Walter Mitchell, Tacking Ship Off Shore
   "Clew" is Saxon; "garnet" (from granato, a fruit) is Italian,—that is, the garnet- or pomegranate-shaped block fastened to the clew or corner of the courses, and hence the rope running through the block. 1858, The Atlantic Monthly, "The Language of the Sea"
   I went over and asked him to let down the clews or corners of the mainsail, which had been drawn up in order to lessen the useless flapping of the sail against the rigging. 1894, James Hudson Taylor, A Retrospect
   Run aft, Haldane, and you too, Spokeshave. Loosen the bunt of the mizzen-trysail and haul at the clew. That’ll bring her up to the wind fast enough, if the sail only stands it! 1901, John Conroy Hutcheson, The Ghost Ship
5. (in the plural) The sheets so attached to a sail.
   The canvas running up in a proud sweep, Wind-wrinkled at the clews, and white like lint, 1913, John Masefield, Dauber
6. (nautical, in the plural) The cords suspending a hammock.
   He taught us how to attach the clews to the ends of the hammock and then lash it between jack stays. 2000, Ralph W Danklefsen, The Navy I Remember, Xlibris, page 21
7. Obsolete spelling of clue
   With this clew, let us endeavour to unravel this character of Herod as here given. 1766, Laurence Sterne, The Sermons of Mr. Yorick
   The clew, without which it was perilous to enter the vast and intricate maze of Continental politics, was in his hands. 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume III,1856, New York: Harper & Brothers, page 13
   Now, the fact is, I had started because I thought I saw the end of a good clew. 1864, Andrew Forrester, The Female Detective
   We may here have lighted on the clew to the great puzzle. 1870, Edward Augustus Freeman, History of the Norman Conquest
   Telltale marks around the pan of yeast gave him a clew to the trouble. 1910, “Duck Eats Yeast,”, in The Yakima Herald
   And I brought the only clew to be found. 1923, Robert Ervin Howard, Aha! or The Mystery of the Queen's Necklace
   Not often did Jesse James leave a clew to his identity when he galloped away from a crime of violence, back into the mysterious Nowhere whence he came. 1926, Robertus Love, The Rise and Fall of Jesse James, University of Nebraska, published 1990
   following the single clew that she must have gone off with a certain group of visitors from space; they knew what those visitors looked like but not from what part of the sky they came. 1954, Robert Heinlein, The Star Beast, New English Library

verb

1. (transitive) to roll into a ball
2. (nautical) (transitive and intransitive) to raise the lower corner(s) of (a sail)