clues

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of clue.

   Investigators gathered several clues from the burglarized apartment.

   The treasure hunt scattered clues all around the park.

   Note

   A regular plural for a noun that began as thread. The archaic clue was a strand of yarn that guided someone through a labyrinth, and the modern sense of something that points the way keeps that image. The plural belongs to the evidence and hint senses: clues at a crime scene, clues in a puzzle. The "understanding" sense resists it, since people have a clue, or no clue, but not clues.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of clue.

   The manager clues new employees in on company policy during their first week.

   Whenever the schedule shifts, she clues everyone in right away.

   Note

   The present-tense form often travels with a particle: she clues us in, he clues the team up. The person being informed sits between the verb and the particle, and on introduces the topic (clues new hires in on policy). Without a particle it means simply supplying a hint. The spelling is shared with the plural noun, and the sentence around it always tells them apart.

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