clue: [15] Clue is a variant spelling of the now obsolete clew ‘ball of thread’, and its current application to ‘that which helps to solve a problem’, which originated in the early 17th century, is based on the notion of using (like Theseus in the Minotaur’s labyrinth) a ball of thread to show one the way out of an intricate maze one has entered. Clew itself goes back to Old English cliwan or cleowan, which may be related to claw. => claw
clue (n.)
1590s, spelling variant of clew "a ball of thread or yarn," in this sense with reference to the one Theseus used as a guide out of the Labyrinth. The purely figurative sense of "that which points the way" is from 1620s. As something which a bewildered person does not have, by 1948.
clue (v.)
"to inform someone of the important facts," usually with in, 1934, from clue (n.). Related: Clued; cluing. Earlier in now-obsolete sense of "follow or track by clues" (1660s). In nautical use, "to haul up (a sail) by means of the clue-lines," from clue (n.) in the "wound ball of yarn" sense.
实用例句
1. The vital clue to the killer's identity was his nickname, Peanuts.
查明杀手身份的重要线索是他的外号叫“花生”.
来自柯林斯例句
2. That was the clue which clinched it for us.
就是那个线索帮我们最终解决了问题。
来自柯林斯例句
3. I hadn't a clue to the meaning of "activism"
我根本不明白activism的意思。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Diet may hold the clue to the causes of migraine.
从饮食之中可能得知偏头疼的一些原因.
来自《简明英汉词典》
5. The police followed home the clue and finally caught the culprit.
