Forms: 1 cliwen, cliowen, cleowen, cliewen, clywen, 3–7 clewe, 3–6 clowe, 4–5 clyw(e, 5– clew. See also CLUE. [OE. cliwen, cleowen, etc. (clywe, in Wr.-Wülcker, 187/29, is an error for clywen of the MS.) = MLG. kluwen, Du. kluwen (all neuter), prob. dim. of the word in OHG. kliu, kliwi, kliuwi, MHG. kliuwe, neuter, in same sense. OHG. had also chli(u)wa fem., and dim. chliuwelin; MHG. kliuwel, kliuwelin, also by dissimilation kniuwel, kniulin; mod.G. knäuel clew. The ME. clywe, clewe, were prob. due to loss of the OE. final -n, rather than equivalent to MHG. kliuwe; thence mod. clew. A variant spelling clue (cf. blew, blue, glew, glue, rew, rue, trew, true) appears in 15th c., but was not frequent till 17th; it has now become the prevailing form in the fig. sense 3, which, on account of the obsolescence of 2, is often not felt as fig.
The length of the vowel in OE. is doubtful; some have assumed cléowen as the typical form, but Sievers thinks that it was prob. cliwen:—OTeut. *kliwĭno- dim. of *kliwjo- (whence OHG. kliu, kliuwi): pre-Teut. type *gleu-ino, f. root glu-, gleu-, to gather into a mass, ‘glomerare’; cf. L. glu-ere, glū-ma, Skr. glâus ball.]
† 1. A globular body; a ball (formed by coiling together or conglomeration). Obs.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past., xxxv. 241. Se iil … sona sua hiene mon ʓefehd, sua ʓewint he to anum cliewene. Ibid., 244. Ðonne ðæt ierre ðæs ytemestan domes … arafeð ðæt cliwen ðære twyfealdan heortan.
a. 1000. Phœnix, 226 (Gr.). Þa yslan onginnaþ lucan togædere ʓeclungne to cleowenne.
c. 1000. in Thorpe, Hom., II. 514. Swilce fyren clywen.
c. 1050. Supp. Ælfric’s Voc., in Wr.-W., 187. Globus, clywen…. Glomer, globellum, cleowen.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 578. Þu … þinchest a lutel soti cleowe [v.r. clowe, clewe].
1508. Fisher, Wks., 53. Thou shalte … set all wretched synners as a clewe or a grete hepe of fyre.
1796. Stedman, Surinam (1813), I. vii. 162. Both these creatures by forming themselves in a clew, have often more the appearance of excrescences in the bark than that of animals.
b. A round bunch or cluster of things.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Countr. Farme, 324. If the whole troupe [of bees] be diuided into manie clewes, or round bunches, you need not then doubt but that there are manie Kings.
1669. in Phil. Trans., IV. 1018. Of a great clew of worms voided by crude mercury taken inwardly.
2. esp. A ball formed by winding thread; a ball of thread or yarn. (The regular name in Scotland and north of England.)
956. in Cod. Dipl., III. 451 (Bosw.). An cliwen godes nettʓernes.
c. 1050. in Wr.-Wülcker, 413. Glomer, cleowen.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 2140, Ariadne. His wepne, his clewe [v.r. clyw, clew, clywe] … Was by the gayler in the hous I-leyd.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 83. Clowchyn, or clowe [v.r. clewe], glomus, globus.
1483. Cath. Angl., 69. To wynde clowys, glomerare.
1540. R. Hyrde trans. Vives’ Instr. Chr. Woman, I. viii. (R.). What a fowle thing is it, to see a woman … for hir clewe or prayer booke, to turne the cards.
1580. Baret, Alv., Clew, bottome of thread.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 346/1. The Weavers Trough is that in which he puts his Clews of Yarn.
1866. R. Chambers, Ess., Ser. II. 26. Clews and corks … to roll along the floor.
fig. 1601. Shaks., All’s Well, I. iii. 188. If it be so, you haue wound a goodly clewe.
1645. Bp. Hall, Peace Maker, § 13. To winde up this clew of our discourse.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxiv. There is aye a wimple in a lawyer’s clew.
1879. Butcher & Lang, Odyss., 9. When he had wound up the clew of war.
b. The cocoon spun by a silkworm or the like.
1599. T. M[oufet], Silkwormes, 68. From out whose belly … Whole clews of silk scarse half concocted, spring.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Countr. Farme, 489. They grow madde vntill they be packed vp in their little clewes and bottomes.
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., Ep. Ded. She first disposeth it for the strengthning of her clew of yarn.
3. A ball of thread, which in various mythological or legendary narratives (esp. that of Thesens in the Cretan Labyrinth) is mentioned as the means of ‘threading’ a way through a labyrinth or maze; hence, in many more or less figurative applications: that which guides through a maze, perplexity, difficulty, intricate investigation, etc.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 2016, Ariadne. By a clewe of twyn as he hath gon The same weye he may returne a-non ffolwynge alwey the thred as he hath come.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, II. xx. (Rolls), II. 385. Laborinthus … Ȝif eny man wente þider yn wiþ oute a clewe of þrede, it were ful harde to finde a way out.
1494. Fabyan, I. ccxxxviii. But ye comon fame tellyth, yt lastly the quene wanne to her [Rosamounde] by a clewe of threde, or sylke.
1588. Greene, Metam., Wks. (Grosart), IX. 28. No courteous Ariadne to giue them a clew of threed to draw them out of their miseries.
c. 1620. Fletcher & Mass., Trag. Barnavelt, I. i. in Bullen, O. Pl. (1883), II. 210. The labourinthes of pollicie I have trod To find the clew of safetie.
1706. Addison, Rosamond, I. iii. Of him that has got Fair Rosamond’s bower, With the clew in his power.
1785. Crabbe, Newspaper, 140. With clews like these they tread the maze of state.
1855. Prescott, Philip II., I. II. vii. 226. A clew for conducting the student through more than one intricate negotiation.
b. With the literal sense obscured: An indication to follow, a slight direction, a ‘key.’ See CLUE, the prevalent spelling.
1734. Watts, Logic, IV. ii. § 7. For want of some clew [ed. 1813 clue], or connecting idea, to lay hold of.
1760. Sterne, Serm., Yorick, ix. (1773), 41. With this clew, let us endeavour to unravel this character of Herod as here given.
1844. Mozley, Ess. (1878), II. 36. This distinction gives us the clew to a good deal of Arnold’s language.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. App. 647. We may here have lighted on the clew to the great puzzle of Cumbrian ethnology.
4. Used in reference to the thread of life, which the Fates are represented as spinning.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 198. Life … may be compared to a clew of yarne, such as the Poets faigned the Destinies to spin.
1650. Bp. Hall, Balm Gil., 296. The old man knowes how little of his clew is left in the winding.
a. 1683. Oldham, On Recov., Poet. Wks. (1687), 50.
| It now again the new-broke Thread does knit, | |
| And for another Clew her Spindle fit. |
1821. Byron, Sardan., V. i. 237. Our clew being well-nigh wound out, let’s be cheerful.
5. A thread or cord (in a series).
1660. Dryden, Astræa Redux, 10 (J.). To see small clues draw vastest weights along, Not in their bulk but in their order strong.
6. The series of small cords by which a hammock is suspended at the two ends, called respectively the head-clew and foot-clew.
1834. M. Scott, Cruise Midge (1863), 14. A hammock thrown over his shoulders … the Clew hanging half way down his back.
1837. Marryat, Dog-fiend, xxv. It was sitting on the head-clue of Smallbones’s hammock.
7. Naut. A lower corner of a square sail, or the aftmost corner of a fore-and-aft sail, to which are made fast the tacks and sheets by which it is extended and held to the lower yard. † To spread a large (full, small) clew: (of a square sail) to have the two lower corners of the sail wide (or otherwise) apart; hence, to spread large (or small) canvas. From clew to earing: lit. the diagonal of a square sail; fig. from bottom to top, ‘from top to toe,’ completely.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., vii. 32. When the Saile is large and hath a good Clew, we say she spreds a large Clew, or spreds much Canuas.
1645. Bp. Hall, Remed. Discontents, 62. Having that large clew which they spread, expos’d to all windes.
1698. Capt. Langford, in Phil. Trans., XX. 412. The Clews of the Sails I spik’d all down to the Timbers.
1707. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., Clew of the Sail of a Ship is the lower Corner of it which reaches down to that Earing where the Tackles and Sheats are fastned.
1875. Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket-bk., vi. (ed. 2), 215. If weights be fastened to the clews, the boat’s drift will be much retarded.
b. transf. The expanse of the wings (of a bird).
1608. Sylvester, Du Bartas, Job (1621), 946. Is’t by thy wisdom that the Hawk doth mew, And to the southward spreads her winged clew?
8. Clew up: an act of clewing up a sail; fig. a case of despair. (Adm. Smyth.)
9. Comb. Clew-bottom, a bottom or reel to wind a clew on; in quot. fig.
1737. Ozell, Rabelais, II. vii. II. 40. The clew-bottom of Theology.
Clew, dial. form of CLOW, sluice.
