clue / kloō/ • n. 1. a piece of evidence or information used in the detection of a crime or solving of a mystery. ∎  a fact or idea that serves as a guide or aid in a task or problem: archaeological evidence can give clues about the past.2. a verbal formula giving an indication as to what is to be inserted in a particular space in a crossword or other puzzle.• v. (clues, clued, clue·ing) [tr.] (clue someone in) inf. inform someone about a particular matter: Stella had clued her in about Peter.PHRASES: not have a clue inf. know nothing about something or about how to do something.

Clue ★★½ 1985 (PG)

The popular boardgame's characters must unravel a night of murder at a spooky Victorian mansion. The entire cast seems to be subsisting on sugar, with wild eyes and frantic movements the order of the day. Butler Curry best survives the uneven script and direction. Warren is appealing too. The theatrical version played with three alternative endings, and the video version shows all three successively. 96m/C VHS, DVD . Lesley Ann Warren, Tim Curry, Martin Mull, Madeline Kahn, Michael McKean, Christopher Lloyd, Eileen Brennan, Howard Hesseman, Lee Ving, Jane Wiedlin, Colleen Camp, Bill Henderson; D: Jonathan Lynn; W: John Landis, Jonathan Lynn; C: Victor Kemper; M: John Morris.

clue a piece of evidence or information used in the detection of a crime or the solving of a mystery; ultimately a variant of clew meaning ‘a ball of thread’, and in particular that used by Theseus to guide himself through the Labyrinth.

clue later form (XV) of CLEW, now restricted mainly to the sense ‘fact, etc., leading (through a difficulty) to a solution or discovery’.