# clue

Pronunciation: say "KLOO" US /klu/, AUS /kluː/

## Noun

1. Information that may lead someone to a particular conclusion or help them find an answer.
   - Simple: A piece of information that helps you find an answer or understand something.
   - _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._
2. An object or other sign or indication that may be used as evidence.
   - Simple: An object or sign that helps prove what happened or who did something.
   - _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._
3. Insight or understanding, especially in the phrases "have a clue" or "have no clue."
   - Simple: A general idea or understanding of what is happening or how something works.
   - _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._

## Verb

4. To provide someone with information they lack, frequently in the phrasal forms "clue in" or "clue up."
   - Simple: To give someone information they did not have. Often used as "clue in."
   - _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._
5. To provide a person or thing with a clue.
   - Simple: To give someone a hint that helps them find the answer.
   - _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._
6. Alternative form of clew. — Alternative form of clew.
   - Simple: Alternative form of clew. It means the same thing and is just spelled differently.
   - _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._

## Noun

7. A strand of yarn or thread used to guide a person through a labyrinth, or, more broadly, anything that points the way or serves as a guide. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A ball of thread used to find the way out of a maze, or anything that shows the way.
   - _Theseus escaped the Labyrinth by following the clue Ariadne had given him._
   - _The poet's letters served as a clue through the maze of his unfinished manuscripts._

## Origin

"Clue" is a variant of "clew" ("a ball of thread or yarn"), from Middle English clewe, from Old English clīewen ("ball"), going back through Proto-Germanic to a Proto-Indo-European root *glew- ("to amass, clump, ball"). The modern meaning developed from the ball of thread the mythical Theseus used to guide himself out of the Minotaur's labyrinth.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/clue (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).