Definition of "clew"

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

Both theſe creatures [the "ai" (aye-aye?) and "unan"], by forming themſelves in a clew, have often more the appearance of excreſcences in the bark, than that of animals.

1796, J[ohn] G[abriel] Stedman, chapter VII, in Narrative of a Five Years’ Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the Wild Coast of South America; […], volume I, London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], and J. Edwards, […], page 153

[O]nely ſinneAnd helliſh obſtinacie tye thy tongueThat truth ſhould be ſuſpected, ſpeake, iſ't ſo?If it be ſo, you haue wound a goodly clewe:If it be not, forſweare't how ere I charge thee,As heauen ſhall work in me for thine auaileTo tell me truelie.

c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene iii], page 234, column 1

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

'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

The canvas running up in a proud sweep,Wind-wrinkled at the clews, and white like lint,

1913, John Masefield, Dauber

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

With this clew, let us endeavour to unravel this character of Herod as here given.

1766, Laurence Sterne, The Sermons of Mr. Yorick

To this horrible mystery there is not as yet, we believe, the slightest clew.

1841 April, Edgar A[llan] Poe, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, in George R[ex] Graham, Rufus W[ilmot] Griswold, editors, Graham’s Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine. […], volume XVIII, number 4, Philadelphia, Pa.: George R. Graham, page 169, column 2

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

They had followed immediately behind him, thinking it barely possible that his actions might prove a clew to my whereabouts, and had witnessed my short but decisive battle with him.

1912 February–July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Under the Moons of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co.; republished as “A Fight that Won Friends”, in A Princess of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., 1917 October, page 59

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