clue

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A piece of information that helps you find an answer or solve a problem.

   The detective found an important clue at the scene.

2. 2
   noun

   Any idea or understanding about something.

   I had no clue that I was being watched.

3. 3
   verb

   To give someone information they did not have.

   Can you clue me in on what happened at the meeting?

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. Cognates Cognate with Cimbrian khnaul (“ball of yarn”), Dutch kluw…

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