clew
.
Searchable Lemmata: cleowe (OE), cleue (ME), clew (DOST), clew (ModE).
Alternate Forms: clawen, cleouuae, cleuuue, clewen, cliwe, cliwen, clouue, clowe, clue, clywen, klew, klewe.
Definitions and Defining Citations:
1(n.)
Manufacture;
originally a globular body, coming to mean specifically a ball of yarn or thread.(ante 1100 still in current use)
Ceremonial: No
Body Parts:
Etymological Evidence:
Definite, native English word, cf. Old High German kliu(wi), from an earlier Germanic *kliu-, from the root *gl(e)u- which lies also behind the Latin words glomus (q.v.), glomen of the same meaning. In Older Scots the word is not common until the sixteenth century and is probably a borrowing from northern English.
WF:
Etym Cog: glomus.
References:
