You have wound a goodly clue. --Shak.
This clue once found unravels all the rest. --Pope.
Serve as clues to guide us into further knowledge.
--Locke.
Untwisting his deceitful clew. --Spenser.
2. That which guides or directs one in anything of a doubtful
or intricate nature; that which gives a hint in the
solution of a mystery.
The clew, without which it was perilous to enter the
vast and intricate maze of countinental politics,
was in his hands. --Macaulay.
3. (Naut.)
(a.) A lower corner of a square sail, or the after corner
of a fore-and-aft sail.
(b.) A loop and thimbles at the corner of a sail.
(c.) A combination of lines or nettles by which a hammock
is suspended.
{Clew garnet} (Naut.), one of the ropes by which the clews of
the courses of square-rigged vessels are drawn up to the
lower yards.
{Clew line} (Naut.), a rope by which a clew of one of the
smaller square sails, as topsail, topgallant sail, or
royal, is run up to its yard.
{Clew-line block} (Naut.), The block through which a clew
line reeves. See Illust. of {Block}.