aft vs clew

aft

noun
  • The stern portion of a vessel. 

adj
  • located at the back of a boat, ship, or airplane 

adv
  • At, near, or towards the stern of a vessel (with the frame of reference within the vessel). 

clew

noun
  • The sheets so attached to a sail. 

  • Yarn or thread as used to guide one's way through a maze or labyrinth; a guide, a clue. 

  • The cords suspending a hammock. 

  • 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. 

verb
  • to roll into a ball 

  • (transitive and intransitive) to raise the lower corner(s) of (a sail) 

How often have the words aft and clew occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )