Word of the Day

: May 22, 2011

clew

noun KLOO

What It Means

1 : a ball of thread, yarn, or cord

2 : clue

3 a : a lower corner or only the after corner of a sail

b : a metal loop attached to the lower corner of a sail

clew in Context

"They had followed immediately behind him, thinking his actions might prove a clew to my whereabouts.…" -- From Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel A Princess of Mars, 1917

"I crawled back and slacked the halyard a foot or two, dropping the sail. Out again to snap loose a couple of hanks, pull the clew in, and pack it behind the rail at the forepeak." -- From Brogan Steele's 2010 book From the Jaws of Death: Extreme True Adventures of Man Vs. Nature

Did You Know?

The "ball of thread" meaning of "clew" (from Middle English "clewe" and ultimately from Old English "cliewen") has been with us since before the 12th century. In Greek mythology, Ariadne gave a ball of thread to Theseus so that he could use it to find his way out of her father's labyrinth. This, and similar tales, gave rise to the use of "clew" for anything that could guide a person through a difficult place. This use led in turn to the meaning "a piece of evidence that leads one toward the solution of a problem." Today, the spelling variant "clue," which appeared in the 16th century, is the more common spelling variant for the "evidence" sense, but you'll find "clew" in some famous works of literature. "Clew" is also the only choice for the sailing senses.