clue
Forms
- Plural
- clues
- present (v1)
- clue
- past (v2)
- clued
- past participle (v3)
- clued
- present participle
- cluing
- 3rd person singular
- clues
Definitions
1.Information which may lead one to a certain point or conclusion.
- Give me a clue because the question is too vague.
2.An object or a kind of indication which may be used as evidence.
- The detectives were looking for some clues at the scene of the crime.
3.The text that indicates an answer in a crossword puzzle.
4.Insight or understanding ("to have a clue [about]" or "to have clue". See have a clue, clue stick)
- I had little clue that I was being carefully monitored by the CCTV.
1.To provide someone with information which they lack (often used with "in" or "up").
- Smith, clue Jones in on what's been happening.
- I stared into my mind for some image to clue me what to say but I saw only blackness there.
2.Alternative form of clew.
- If the lee-side of the sail were clued up, the risk would be small compared with what it would be were the sheet nearly aft and the whole sail full of wind on starting the tack.
3.To provide with a clue.
- The crossword compiler wasn't sure how to clue the word "should".
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #3104
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Synonyms
Etymology
Variant of clew (“a ball of thread or yarn”), from Middle English clew, clewe, clowe, clue, clwe, clyw, clywe, from Old English clēowen, clīewen, clīowen, clīwen, clȳwe, clȳwen (“ball, sphere; skein”), from Proto-West Germanic *kliuwīn (“ball, clump”), from Proto-Germanic *kliuwīną, *klewô (“bale, ball, clump, mass”), from Proto-Indo-European *glew- (“to ball up, clump together; lump, swelling”). Sense evolution with reference to the one which the mythical Theseus used to guide him out of the Minotaur's labyrinth. More at clew.