clue

Pluralclues

Formsclues, cluing, clued

1. 1
   nouncountable

   Information that may lead someone to a particular conclusion or help them find an answer.

   The crossword clue was so vague that nobody at the table could solve it.

   Rising prices were the first clue that the company was in trouble.

   Similarhint, indication, sign, pointer, lead

2. 2
   nouncountable

   An object or other sign or indication that may be used as evidence.

   Detectives bagged every clue at the scene, from cigarette butts to torn fabric.

   Archaeologists treat each shard of broken pottery as a clue to how ancient households cooked.

   Similarlead, trace, sign, indication

3. 3
   nouncountable

   Insight or understanding, especially in the phrases "have a clue" or "have no clue."

   After two weeks on the job, he still had no clue how the filing system worked.

   She finally got a clue and realized the meeting had been moved.

   Similaridea, inkling, notion

   Note

   Here understanding is measured as a quantity. Alongside have a clue and have no clue, this sense can go uncountable, so someone can have little clue, or simply have clue. That mass use shows the word meaning know-how in general rather than a single pointer, as it does in the "hint" meaning. A clue is one hint; to have clue is to be generally in the know.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To provide someone with information they lack, frequently in the phrasal forms "clue in" or "clue up."

   Somebody should clue the new hires in about the parking situation.

   Her agent clued her in that the studio was about to make an offer.

   Similarinform, tell, brief, enlighten

   Note

   Usually a phrasal verb, with the particle after the person: clue Jones in on what's been happening. It can also stand bare and take what is learned as a second object. John Macgregor's The Antibiography of Ian Mcnulty (2014) looks for an image "to clue me what to say." With in, the topic follows on; in the bare pattern, it follows directly.

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To provide a person or thing with a clue.

   Crossword setters clue each answer with a definition, wordplay, or both.

   The escape room's designer clued the final lock with a pattern hidden in the wallpaper.

   Note

   A crossword compiler's verb, where the thing clued is the answer, not the solver: to clue the word "should" is to write the hint that leads to it. That object is what separates it from clueing someone in, where a person is the one informed. The present participle is spelled both cluing and clueing, and the past is clued.

6. 6
   verb

   Alternative form of clew.

   As the wind rose, the mate shouted at the hands to clue up the mainsail.

   Old seamanship manuals tell sailors to clue up a square sail before furling it.

   Note

   Rigging and yarn come back into view here. As a verb, clue can stand for clew, which means to roll into a ball or to haul up the lower corners of a sail. John McNeill Boyd's A Manual for Naval Cadets (1864) writes of the lee side of a sail being "clued up." The forms match the other verbs of the word (clued, cluing), so only context separates rigging from hints.

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