clewe

Middle English

Alternative forms

clew, clewen, clowe, clue, clwe, clyw, clywe

Etymology

From Old English clīwen, clēowen, clīewen,[1] from Proto-Germanic *kliuwīną, *klewô.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈkliu̯(ə)/, /ˈkliu̯ən/

Noun

clewe (plural clewes)

A clew (“a lump or sphere of thread or yarn”).
A string of yarn for finding a path.
- c. 1386–1388, Geffray Chaucer [i.e., Geoffrey Chaucer], “The Legende of Good Women: The Legende of Ariadne of Athenes”, in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: Printed by [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], published 1542, OCLC 932884868, folio ccxxvi, verso, column 1:
  Therto haue I a remedye in my thought / That by a clewe of twyne, as he hath gone / The ſame way he may returne anone / Folowyng alwey yͤ threde as he hath come.
  (please add an English translation of this quote)

Descendants

English: clew, clue
Scots: clew, cloo, clue

References

“cleue, n.” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 5 August 2018.

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