Coffee has initially been a food – chewed, not sipped. Early African tribes consume coffee by grinding the berries together, adding some animal fat, and rolling the treats into tiny edible energy balls.
CLEW
clue, clew, cue
(noun) evidence that helps to solve a problem
clew
(noun) a ball of yarn or cord or thread
clue, clew
(verb) roll into a ball
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
clew (plural clews)
(obsolete) A roughly spherical mass or body.
(archaic) A ball of thread or yarn.
Yarn or thread as used to guide one's way through a maze or labyrinth; a guide, a clue.
(nautical) The lower corner(s) of a sail to which a sheet is attached for trimming the sail (adjusting its position relative to the wind); the metal loop or cringle in the corner of the sail, to which the sheet is attached. (on a triangular sail) The trailing corner relative to the wind direction.
(in the plural) The sheets so attached to a sail.
(nautical, in the plural) The cords suspending a hammock.
Obsolete spelling of clue.
Coordinate terms
• (lower corner of a sail): bunt
Verb
clew (third-person singular simple present clews, present participle clewing, simple past and past participle clewed)
(transitive) to roll into a ball
(nautical) (transitive and intransitive) to raise the lower corner(s) of (a sail)
Source: Wiktionary
Clew, Clue, n. Etym: [OE. clewe, clowe, clue, AS. cleowen, cliwen, clywe ball of thread; akin to D. kluwen, OHG. chliwa, chliuwa, G. dim. kleuel, knäuel, and perch. to L. gluma hull, husk, Skr. glaus sort of ball or tumor. Perch. akin to E. claw. *26. Cf. Knawel.]
1. A ball of thread, yarn, or cord; also, The thread itself. 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.)
Definition: A lower corner of a square sail, or the after corner of a fore- and-aft sail. (b.)
Definition: A loop and thimbles at the corner of a sail. (c.)
Definition: 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.
Clew, v. t. [imp. & p. p. & vb. n. Clewing.] Etym: [Cf. D. kluwenen. See Clew, n.]
1. To direct; to guide, as by a thread. [Obs.] Direct and clew me out the way to happiness. Beau. && Fl.
2. (Naut.)
Definition: To move of draw (a sail or yard) by means of the clew garnets, clew lines, etc.; esp. to draw up the clews of a square sail to the yard. To clew down (Naut.), to force (a yard) down by hauling on the clew lines.
– To clew up (Naut.), to draw (a sail) up to the yard, as for furling.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
31 March 2025
IMPROVISED
(adjective) done or made using whatever is available; “crossed the river on improvised bridges”; “the survivors used jury-rigged fishing gear”; “the rock served as a makeshift hammer”
Coffee Trivia
