English
wikipedia

Etymology
Old English cliwen.

Noun
en-noun

1. obsolete A roughly spherical mass or body.
2. archaic A ball of thread or yarn.

#:* 1962: 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. � Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire

1. yarn|Yarn or thread as used to guide one's way through a maze or labyrinth; a guide, a clue.

#:* 1926: 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. � Robertus Love, The Rise and Fall of Jesse James (University of Nebraska, 1990)

1. 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 in the corner of the sail, to which the sheet is attached. On a triangluar sail, the clew is the trailing corner relative to the wind direction.
2. in plural The sheets so attached to a sail.
3. nautical|in plural The cords suspending a hammock.

#:* 2000: He taught us how to attach the clews to the ends of the hammock and then lash it between jack stays. � Ralph W Danklefsen, The Navy I Remember (Xlibris 2000, p. 21)

1. alternative spelling of|clue

Translations
trans-top|ball of thread
Korean: 꾸리 (kkuri), 꾸�미 (kkureomi)
trans-mid
trans-bottom

trans-top|clue
Korean: ��리 (silmari)
trans-mid
trans-bottom

trans-top|sail corner
Italian: bugna
trans-mid
trans-bottom

Verb
en-verb

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

See also
clef
clue

ang:clew
ru:clew
te:clew
vi:clew
zh:clew

• 2007-11-07 23:42 - AutoFormat - -''(in plural)'' +{{in plural}}, -(''Nautical, in plural'') +{{nautical|in plural}}

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