mew meaning (archaic): definition, etymology and quotations

mew

noun

/ˈmjuː/ · [ˈmjʊu̯]

Etymology 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”).

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 […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
From helm to sea they saw him leap, As arrow from the string, And dive into the water deep, As mew upon the wing.1954, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring:

Derived terms: mew gull, seamew

mew

verb

Etymology 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”).

Archaic To shut away, confine, lock up.

More pity that the eagle should be mew’d, While kites and buzzards prey at liberty.c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
To mew me in a Ship, is to inthrall Mee in a prison, that weare like to fall;c. 1596, John Donne, “Elegie XX: Loves Warre”, in Charles M. Coffin, editor, The Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of John Donne, New York: Modern Library, page 84:

3 more examples

1693, John Dryden (translator), The Satires of Juvenal, London: Jacob Tonson, Satire 1, p. 10, […] Nay some have learn’d the trick To beg for absent persons; feign them sick, Close mew’d in their Sedans, for fear of air:
When it came to his turn to mention Sir John Sparkle, he represented him as a man of an immense estate and narrow disposition, who mewed up his only child, a fine young lady, from the conversation of mankind, under the strict watch and inspection of an old governante, who was either so honest, envious, or insatiable, that nobody had been as yet able to make her a friend, or get access to her charge, though numbers attempted it every day […]1748, Tobias Smollett, chapter 50, in The Adventures of Roderick Random.:
[…] it was all very well for Orlando to mew herself in her house at Blackfriars and pretend that the climate was the same […]1928, Virginia Woolf, chapter 5, in Orlando: A Biography, London: The Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished as Orlando: A Biography (eBook no. 0200331h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, July 2015:

Of a bird To moult.

The hawk mewed his feathers.
Their nakedneſſe with ſackcloth let them hide, / And mue the veſt'ments of their ſilken pride; […]1620, Fra[ncis] Quarles, “Sect[ion] 10”, in A Feast for Wormes. Set Forth in a Poeme of the History of Ionah, London: […] Felix Kyngston, for Richard Moore, […], →OCLC, signature H3, recto:

1 more example

Nine times the moon had mewed her horns […]1700, [John] Dryden, “Cinyras and Myrrha, Out of the Tenth Book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 184:

Obsolete, Of a bird To cause to moult.

Obsolete, Of a deer To shed antlers.

Derived terms: mew up, mews, unmew

mew

intj

Etymology From Middle English mewen; onomatopoeic.

A cat's (especially a kitten's) cry.

A gull's or buzzard's cry.

Archaic An exclamation of disapproval; boo.

mew

noun

Etymology 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”).

Obsolete A prison, or other place of confinement.

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.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

Obsolete A breeding-cage for birds.

Falconry, Hobbies, Hunting, Lifestyle 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.1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:

Falconry, Hobbies, Hunting, Lifestyle In plural A building or set of buildings where moulting birds are kept.

mew

verb

Etymology From Middle English mewen; onomatopoeic.

Especially, Of a cat, Of a kitten To meow.

Of a gull or buzzard To make its cry.

Derived terms: mewer, mewingly

mew

noun

Etymology From Middle English mewen; onomatopoeic.

The crying sound of a cat; a meow, especially of a kitten.

The crying sound of a gull or buzzard.

Obsolete An exclamation of disapproval; a boo.

Derived terms: snow mew

mew

verb

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

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

Derived terms: mewer, mewmaxx
Related terms: orthotropics, mews

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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Conjugation of “mew”, all tenses