Meaning of clew in English:
clew
Translate clew into Spanish
noun
1The lower or after corner of a sail.
‘I started to give the outhaul a good yank to get the foot of the main tight and the damned thing came off in my hand along with a piece of the sail containing the clew.’- ‘Hullo is a rectangular shaped flat wooden plank seater with its four corners fixed to the roof by means of metal clews which can swing.’
- ‘A clew of the sail is fixed to the slide allowing the sail to be orientated without a need for a boom.’
- ‘The lower trailing corner 12 of the sail is known as the clew, and typically incorporates an eyelet, or a series of eyelets.’
2clewsSailing
The cords by which a hammock is suspended.‘Tie the clew down to the boom using a reef knot.’- ‘A good but currently illegal idea you can use to keep tension in the outhaul lines is to tie the clew inhaul shockcord between the clew cringle and the block.’
3 archaic A ball of thread.
‘A clew of sugán rope or ceirtlin súgán in traditional style was made of bent grass by Peter Shevlin of Belmullet.’- ‘If we observe this clew of wool from, say a kilometre distance, it is just a spot - zero dimension.’
- ‘The clever man took a clew of rope and suspended it by the door of entry so that it could serve as a guide to all who entered or came out.’
4
archaic variant of clue‘To this horrible mystery there is not as yet, we believe, the slightest clew.’- ‘In searching for evidence of the presence of the murderer, not a clew of any kind could be found.’
verb
[with object]Sailingclew something up or down
Raise (or lower) a square sail by the clews when furling (or unfurling).
‘It is mostly the way to man the clew-lines and the bunt-lines, ease off the lee-sheet and clew it up.’- ‘If you intend to set them again after the topsail is reefed, clew the sail up.’
- ‘And your Arthur, I mind, was one of the four men to go aloft to clew it up.’
Origin
Old English cliwen, cleowen (denoting a rounded mass, also a ball of thread), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kluwen. All senses are also recorded for the form clue.
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