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Mew

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mew¹

  • /ˈmjuː/
  • [ˈmjʊu̯]

Sounds like mu · Rhymes with -uː

Where it comes from

From Middle English mewe, mowe, meau, from Old English mǣw (“seagull”), from Proto-West Germanic *maiwī, from Proto-Germanic *mai(h)waz (“seagull”). See also West Frisian meau, miuw, Dutch meeuw, German Möwe (whence Polish mewa); akin to Latvian maût (“to roar”), Old Church Slavonic мꙑꙗти (myjati, “to mew”).

noun mews

  1. archaic, dialectal, poetic A gull, seagull. A daungerous and detestable place, To which nor fish nor fowle did once approch, But yelling Meawes, with Seagulles hoarse and bace […]

mew²

  • /ˈmjuː/
  • [ˈmjʊu̯]

Sounds like mu · Rhymes with -uː

Where it comes from

From Middle English mewe, mue, mwe, from Anglo-Norman mue, muwe, and Middle French mue (“shedding feathers; cage for moulting birds; prison”), from muer (“to moult”).

noun mews

  1. obsolete A prison, or other place of confinement.
  2. obsolete A hiding place; a secret store or den. Ne toung did tell, ne hand these handled not, / But safe I haue them kept in secret mew, / From heauens sight, and powre of all which them pursew.
  3. obsolete A breeding-cage for birds.
  4. A cage for hawks, especially while moulting. A horse in a stable that never travels, a hawk in a mew that seldom flies, are both subject to diseases; which, left unto themselves, are most free from any such encumbrances.
  5. in plural A building or set of buildings where moulting birds are kept.

verb mews · mewing · mewed · mue

  1. archaic To shut away, confine, lock up. More pity that the eagle should be mew’d, While kites and buzzards prey at liberty.
  2. To moult. The hawk mewed his feathers.
  3. obsolete To cause to moult.
  4. obsolete To shed antlers.

mew³

  • /ˈmjuː/
  • [ˈmjʊu̯]

Sounds like mu · Rhymes with -uː

Where it comes from

From Middle English mewen; onomatopoeic.

noun mews

  1. The crying sound of a cat; a meow, especially of a kitten.
  2. The crying sound of a gull or buzzard.
  3. obsolete An exclamation of disapproval; a boo.

verb mews · mewing · mewed

  1. especially To meow.
  2. To make its cry.

interjection

  1. A cat's (especially a kitten's) cry.
  2. A gull's or buzzard's cry.
  3. archaic An exclamation of disapproval; boo.

mew⁴

  • /ˈmjuː/
  • [ˈmjʊu̯]

Sounds like mu · Rhymes with -uː

Where it comes from

Named after British orthodontists John Mew and his son Michael Mew.

verb mews · mewing · mewed

  1. intransitive, slang To flatten one's tongue against the roof of the mouth, with the aim of improving jaw and facial structure.

Mew⁵

  • /mjuː/

Rhymes with -uː

proper noun

  1. A surname. Darren James Mew

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