clew
To roll into a ballTo roll into a ball
» Their boat's sail tore near the clew.
TingBuDong · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
2 senses(transitive)To roll into a ball
roll into a ball
(intransitive, transitive)To raise the lower corner(s) of (a sail)
Examples
1 sentencesTheir boat's sail tore near the clew.
Origin
From Middle English clew, clewe, clowe, clue, clwe, clyw, clywe, from Old English clēowen,From Middle English clew, clewe, clowe, clue, clwe, clyw, clywe, from Old English clēowen, clīewen, clīowen, clīwen, clȳwe, clȳwen (“ball, sphere; skein”), from Proto-Germanic *kliuwiną, *klewô (“bale, ball, clump, mass”), from Proto-Indo-European *glew- (“to ball up, clump together; lump, swelling”). Akin to Old English clǣġ (“clay”). Doublet of knawel.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
clews, clewing, clewed, clewedPhrasal verbs
2 phrasal verbsSynonyms
1 synonyms- roll into a ball:clue
Word family
6 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.