different between lew vs clew

English

Etymology 1

From corruption of French louis, from Louis, presumably Louis IX or Louis XI, who issued gold écus.

Noun

lew (plural lews or lewis or leois)

1. (Scotland, obsolete) A French gold coin circulated in 15th-century Scotland.
   • 1467, Scottish Acts of James III, Vol. II, p. 88:

     ...þe Ingliss noble, henry, ande Eduarde w^t þe ross, þe franche crowne, þe salute þe lewe and þe Ridar sall haif courss in þis realme...

Alternative forms

• lewe

Etymology 2

From Middle English lew, lewe, from Old English hl?ow, hl?owe (“warm, sunny, sheltered”), from Proto-Germanic *hlewaz, *hliwjaz, *hl?waz (“warm, lukewarm”), from Proto-Indo-European *?al(w)e-, *?l?w- (“warm, hot”). Cognate with Old Norse hlýr (“warm, mild”), ( > Danish ly (“lukewarm”)), hlær, German lau, which are themselves akin to Old Norse hlé (“lee”), Danish læ (“shelter”). Compare lee.

Alternative forms

• lue, loo, looe, lee, loo

Adjective

lew (comparative lewer, superlative lewest)

1. (obsolete) Sunny; warm.
2. (dialect) Lukewarm, tepid.
3. (dialect) Alee: protected from the wind.
   • 1674, J. Ray, "South & East Countrey Words" in Coll. Eng. Words, p. 70:

     Lee or Lew, Calm, under the wind. Suss.

   • 1892, H. C. O'Neill, Devonshire Idyls, p. 7:

     His house... was ‘loo’ from the cold north winds.

Usage notes

Now chiefly Southern Scottish and Northern English.

Noun

lew (plural lews)

1. (now Scotland) Warmth, heat.
   • 1605, J. Sylvester translating G. de S. Du Bartas as Deuine Weekes & Wks, Book i, Ch. iv, p. 136:

     To th' end a fruitfull lew
     May euerie Climate in his time renew.

2. (dialect) A shelter from the wind, particularly temporary structures raised by shepherds to protect their flocks.
   • 1825, J. Jennings, Observ. Dial. W. Eng., p. 52:

     Lew, shelter; defence from storms or wind.

   • 1887, W. D. Parish & al., Dictionary of the Kentish Dialect:

     Lew, a thatched hurdle, supported by sticks, and set up in a field to screen lambs, etc. from the wind.

Derived terms

• house-lew

Verb

lew (third-person singular simple present lews, present participle lewing, simple past and past participle lewed)

1. (transitive) To make warm or lukewarm.
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To become warm.
3. (transitive) To shelter from the wind.
   • 1887, W. D. Parish & al., Dictionary of the Kentish Dialect:

     Lew... Those trees will lew the house when they're up-grown.

Etymology 3

Of uncertain etymology, but compare Old English ?elewed (“weakness, infirmity”) and liml?weo (“limb-weak, lame”). Possibly related to Proto-Germanic *laiw? (“damage”); compare Old Norse læ (“venom, bane”).

Adjective

lew (comparative more lew, superlative most lew)

1. Weak.
2. Sickly-looking, pale, wan.
   • c. 1325,, "Old Age" in T. Wright & al.'s 1845 Reliquiae Antiquae, Vol. II, p. 211:

     Mi bodi wexit lewe.

Etymology 4

Variant of lo (q.v.).

Interjection

lew

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of lo or look: a cry to look at something.
   • a. 1500, Towneley Plays, Book I, Scene iii, l. 46:

     Hence bot a litill She commys, lew, lew!

Derived terms

• looky-loo

Etymology 5

Variant of lue (q.v.).

Verb

lew (third-person singular simple present lews, present participle lewing, simple past and past participle lewed)

1. (mining, dialect, transitive) Alternative form of lue: to sift, particularly while mining tin or silver.
   • 1674, John Ray, A Collection of English Words, Not Generally Used, p. 122:

     Cornwall... The fine [sc. tin] is lewed in a fine sierce.

References

• Webster, Noah (1828) , “lew”, in An American Dictionary of the English Language
• lew in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• we'l

Cornish

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *llew, from Latin le?.

Pronunciation

• (Revived Middle Cornish) IPA^(key): [l???]
• (Revived Late Cornish) IPA^(key): [le??]

Noun

lew m (plural lewyon)

1. lion

Gothic

Romanization

l?w

1. Romanization of ????????????

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l?f/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Slavic *l?v?. Probably via a Germanic language, from Latin le?.

Noun

lew m anim (diminutive lewek, augmentative lwisko, feminine lwica)

1. lion
2. (heraldry) lion

Declension

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Bulgarian ??? (lev).

Noun

lew m inan

1. lev

Declension

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the main entry.

Noun

lew f

1. genitive plural of lewa

Further reading

• lew in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• lew in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Sranan Tongo

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch leeuw.

Noun

lew

1. lion

Welsh

Noun

lew

1. Soft mutation of llew.

Mutation

Zazaki

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *leb-, cognate with Persian ??? (lab), English lip etc.

Noun

lew ?

1. (anatomy) lip

English

Etymology

Middle English clewe, from Old English cleowen, cliewen, cliwen (“sphere, ball, skein; ball of thread or yarn; mass, group”), from Proto-Germanic *kliuwin?, *klewô (“ball, bale”), from Proto-Indo-European *glew- (“to conglomerate, gather into a mass; clump, ball, bale”). Akin to Old English cl?? (“clay”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klu?/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /klju?/

  Rhymes: -u?

  Homophone: clue

Noun

clew (plural clews)

1. (obsolete) A roughly spherical mass or body.
   • c. 1600, Charles Estienne and Jean Liebault, tr. Richard Surflet, Maison Rustique, or, The Countrie Farme:

     If the whole troupe be diuided into many clewes, or round bunches, you need not then doubt but that there are many kings.
3. (archaic) A ball of thread or yarn.
   • 1831, Victor Hugo, tr. Isabel Florence Hapgood, The Hunchback of Notre Dame:

     A rare, precious, and never interrupted race of philosophers to whom wisdom, like another Ariadne, seems to have given a clew of thread which they have been walking along unwinding since the beginning of the world, through the labyrinth of human affairs.

   • 1889, Andrew Lang, The Blue Fairy Book, "The story of Prince Ahmed and the fairy Paribanou":

     The Fairy Paribanou was at that time very hard at work, and, as she had several clews of thread by her, she took up one, and, presenting it to Prince Ahmed, said: "First take this clew of thread...
4. Yarn or thread as used to guide one's way through a maze or labyrinth; a guide, a clue.
5. (nautical) The lower corner(s) of a sail to which a sheet is attached for trimming the sail (adjusting its position relative to the wind); the metal loop or cringle in the corner of the sail, to which the sheet is attached. (on a triangular sail) The trailing corner relative to the wind direction.
   • 1858, The Atlantic Monthly, "The Language of the Sea":

     "Clew" is Saxon; "garnet" (from granato, a fruit) is Italian,—that is, the garnet- or pomegranate-shaped block fastened to the clew or corner of the courses, and hence the rope running through the block.
6. (in the plural) The sheets so attached to a sail.
   • 1913, John Masefield, Dauber

     The canvas running up in a proud sweep,
     Wind-wrinkled at the clews, and white like lint,

7. (nautical, in the plural) The cords suspending a hammock.
   • 2000, Ralph W Danklefsen, The Navy I Remember, Xlibris 2000, p. 21:

     He taught us how to attach the clews to the ends of the hammock and then lash it between jack stays.

8. Obsolete spelling of clue
   • 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II, Volume III, 1856, Harper & Brothers, New York, page 13,

     The clew, without which it was perilous to enter the vast and intricate maze of Continental politics, was in his hands.

   • 1910, "Duck Eats Yeast," The Yakima Herald:

     Telltale marks around the pan of yeast gave him a clew to the trouble.

   • 1926, Robertus Love, The Rise and Fall of Jesse James, University of Nebraska, 1990:

     Not often did Jesse James leave a clew to his identity when he galloped away from a crime of violence, back into the mysterious Nowhere whence he came.

   • 1954, Robert Heinlein, The Star Beast, New English Library:

     following the single clew that she must have gone off with a certain group of visitors from space; they knew what those visitors looked like but not from what part of the sky they came.

Coordinate terms

• (lower corner of a sail): bunt

Derived terms

• (lower corner of a sail ; metal loop or cringle in the corner of the sail): clewline

Translations

Verb

clew (third-person singular simple present clews, present participle clewing, simple past and past participle clewed)

1. (transitive) to roll into a ball
2. (nautical) (transitive and intransitive) to raise the lower corner(s) of (a sail)

See also

• clew-garnet
• clef
• clue

References

Middle English

Noun

clew

1. Alternative form of clewe