Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Clew

Clew (klū), Clue, n. [OE. clewe, clowe, clue, AS. cleowen, cliwen, clywe ball of thread; akin to D. kluwen, OHG. chliwa, chliuwa, G. dim. kleuel, knäuel, and perch. to L. gluma hull, husk, Skr. glaus sort of ball or tumor. Perch. akin to E. claw. √26. Cf. Knawel.] 1. A ball of thread, yarn, or cord; also, The thread itself.

Untwisting his deceitful clew. Spenser.

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. Macaulay.

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. See Illust. of Block.

Clew, v. t. [imp. & p. p. & vb. n. Clewing.] [Cf. D. kluwenen. See Clew, n.] 1. To direct; to guide, as by a thread. [Obs.]

Direct and clew me out the way to happiness. Beau. && Fl.

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.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.