clew

Meanings

Noun

• A roughly spherical mass or body.
• A ball of thread or yarn.
• Yarn or thread as used to guide one's way through a maze or labyrinth; a guide, a clue.
• 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 or cringle in the corner of the sail, to which the sheet is attached. The trailing corner relative to the wind direction.
• The sheets so attached to a sail.
• The cords suspending a hammock.

Verb

• to roll into a ball
• (transitive and intransitive) to raise the lower corner(s) of (a sail)

Origin

• Middle English clewe, from Old English cleowen, cliewen, cliwen, from Proto-Germanic *kliuwiną, *klewô, from Proto-Indo-European *glew- ("to conglomerate, gather into a mass; clump, ball, bale"). Akin to Old English clǣġ ("clay").