"clew" എന്ന വാക്കിന്റെ നിഘണ്ടു അർത്ഥം അത് ഉപയോഗിക്കുന്ന സന്ദർഭത്തെ ആശ്രയിച്ച് വ്യത്യാസപ്പെടാം. സാധ്യമായ ചില നിർവചനങ്ങൾ ഇതാ:
നിങ്ങൾക്ക് കൂടുതൽ നിർദ്ദിഷ്ട നിർവചനം ആവശ്യമുണ്ടെങ്കിൽ, ദയവായി അധിക സന്ദർഭം നൽകുക.
1. placed in our hands, such portion as details the following up of the apparently slight clew obtained by Dupin.
2. Then following the clew that, in the hands of the Abbé Faria, had been so skilfully used to guide him through the Dædalian labyrinth of probabilities, he thought that the Cardinal Spada, anxious not to be watched, had entered the creek, concealed his little barque, followed the line marked by the notches in the rock, and at the end of it had buried his treasure.
3. If a rock, or a rivulet, or a bit of earth harder than common, severed the links of the clew they followed, the true eye of the scout recovered them at a distance, and seldom rendered the delay of a single moment necessary.
4. Before following the clew, he communicated his success to his companions and while the latter were consulting on the circumstance, the youth reappeared, leading the two fillies, with their saddles broken, and the housings soiled, as though they had been permitted to run at will for several days.
5. He imagined he had discovered a clew to the secret, and he felt pleased, because a visit to Athos, in the first place, promised him much satisfaction, and, in the next, gave him the hope of finding at the same time a good bed and good supper.