Hew
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
hew¹
- /hjuː/ Canada, UK, US
- [çuː] Canada, UK, US
Sounds like hue, Hiw, Hugh · Rhymes with -uː
Where it comes from
From Middle English hewen, from Old English hēawan, from Proto-West Germanic *hauwan, from Proto-Germanic *hawwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *kewh₂- (“to strike, hew, forge”).
Cognate to West Frisian houwe (“to hew”), Cimbrian hauan (“to dig”), Dutch houwen (“to hew”), German hauen (“to hew”), Luxembourgish haen (“to chop”), Danish hugge (“to hew”), Faroese høgga (“to hew”), Icelandic höggva (“to hew”), Norwegian Bokmål hogge, hugge (“to hew”), Norwegian Nynorsk hogga (“to hew”), Swedish hugga (“to hew”).
Sense 3 derives from the phrase hew to the line (literally “cut evenly with an axe or saw”).
verb hews · hewing · hewed · hew · hewn
- To chop away at; to whittle down; to mow down. Hew them to pieces, hack their bones asunder[…]
- To shape; to form. to hew out a sepulchre
- To act according to, to conform to; usually construed with to. Few men measured up to his standard of righteousness; he hewed to the line.
noun hews
- Destruction by cutting down or hewing. Of whom he makes such hauocke and such hew, / That swarmes of damned soules to hell he sends
hew²
Where it comes from
See hue.
noun hews
- Hue; colour. […] while the youthful hew Sits on thy skin like morning dew
- Shape; form. He taught to imitate that Lady trew, Whose semblance she did carrie under feigned hew.
Hew³
Where it comes from
Variant of Hugh.
proper noun Hews
- A surname originating as a patronymic.
HEW⁴
proper noun
- Initialism of (US Department of) Health, Education, and Welfare, now HHS.(US Department of) Health
