tew
verbEtymology From Middle English tewen, a variant of tawen (“to taw, prepare”). More at taw.
8 senses
1
To tow along, as a vessel.
- By which the Danes had then their full-fraught Navies tew’d:1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion, song 12 p. 197:
2
To prepare (leather, hemp, etc.) by beating or working; to taw.
- It' I bequeath to Richard Smythe, of Steton, my best losyn sherte, a tewed bull skyn, a bushell of wheate, and a bushel of barlie.1910 (quoting work from 1551), The Publications of the Thoresby Society - Volumes 18-19, page 280:
- yet wee found no townes, nor many of their houses, although we saw manie Indians, which are tall big boned men, all naked, saving they cover their privy parts with a blacke tewed skin, much like a Black-smithes apron, tied about their middle and betweene their legs behinde:1602, M. John Brereton, Brereton's Briefe and True Relation of the Discoverie of the North Part of Virginia:
1 more example
- These afford very good dubbing, and a variety, especially those hides that have been tewed, or dressed in a skinner's lime-pit;1807, Thomas Best, A Concise Treatise on the Art of Angling, page 99:
3
Broadly To beat; to scourge.
- with the king ran also Dyvers others, who all returning brought Cudgells and wandes in their hands all to be tewed, as if they had beaten him extreamly.1607, ?Gavriel Archer, A relayton of the Discovery of our River, from Iames Forte into the Maine:
- On the shores which lie open to the East, the grass grows down to the water side, and they are the greener shores; but on the shores exposed to the West, the grass and trees are weather beaten and worn away, and the shore sides much tewed with the surge.1813, James Burney, A Chronological History of the Discoveries in the South Sea Or Pacific Ocean, page 357:
2 more examples
- When the sand, mixed with wort upon the stone casting table, has been thoroughly pounded or tewed, by means of a short, thick, wooden roller, the workman places one of the boxes upon the moulding board, and also arranges thereon the models of the articles to be cast, or parts of the same, which must all be of such a shape as that they will admit of being withdrawn, without difficulty, from the sand.1834, John Holland, A Treatise on the Progressive Improvement and Present State of the Manufacture in Metal, Volume 3, page 215:
- The edges of the table or board are surrounded by a ledge , in order to support the tewed stuff ; the table so previously prepared is filled up with the sand as high as the top of the ledge, which is in a moderately moistened state, and which must be pressed closely down upon the table in every part.1839, Thomas Curtis, “Founding”, in The London encyclopaedia, page 493:
4
To muddle; to mix up.
- Within here, h'as made the gayest sport with Tom the Coachman, so tewed him up with Sack that he lies lashing a But of Malmsie for his Mares.1639, John Fletcher, Wit Without Money:
- “Happen there was a lass tewed up wi 'it. Men do more than more for th' sake of a lass.1890, Rudyard Kipling, “On Greenhow Hill”, in Mine Own People:
1 more example
- And then again in a mighty bustle he bandied it, slubbered it, hacked it, whittled it, wayed it, […] tugged it, tewed it, carried it, bedashed it, […]that it was ten thousand to one he had not structk the bottom of it out.1894, Ainsworth Rand Spofford, Rufus Edmonds Shapley, “Rabelais Imitates Diogenes”, in The Library of Wit and Humor, Prose and Poetry, page 21:
5
To work at or worry.
- The book was in town, I sent a Friend for it, who brought it to the governor: the priest tewed and turned it, but could not find any thing to prove his charge.1829, William Edmundson, A Journal of the Life, Travels, Safferings and Labour of Love in the Work of the Ministry, page 79:
- His first words were, “Since I saw you I 'tewed' hard for it betwint me and God, and He has pardoned my sins.1870, Jottings from memory, by a clergyman, page 69:
6
To harangue or argue with.
- You should have ta'en her then, turn'd her, and tewed her I' th' strength of all her resolution, flatter'd her, and shaked her stubborn will; she would have thank'd you, She would have loved you infinitely;1647, John Fletcher, William Rowley, The Maid in the Mill:
- But it haint his doin's; he has been tewed at, night and day.1879, Marietta Holley, Josiah Allen's Wife as a P.A. and P.I. Samantha at the Centennial, page 404:
- but having received his orders early that morning from the trainer, accompanied with a warning not to suffer himself to be tewed (Yorkshire patois for worried) by anything Mr. Mellish might say, the sallow-complexioned lad walked about in the calm serenity of innocence1863, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Aurora Floyd - Volume 1, page 201:
- After dinner uncle Joe made off to his piggeries; while aunt Dorothy fell asleep in a capacious old arm-chair by the fire, after making an apologetic remark to the effect that she was tired, and had been a good deal "tewed" that morning in the dairy. "Tewed," I understand, is Yorkshire for "worried."1867, Belgravia - Volume 3, page 10:
2 more examples
- Mr. Parkinson, I have been as ill done by as that young lady; I have been worried, and tewed, and cheated out of my life and senses .1800, Francis Lathom, Men and Manners, page 33:
- My missis and me liv'd i' peace fifty-three years, Peg wur allus a Chapel goer, bud I wur a careless chap and that tewed her.1881, Alethea M. Huddleston, John Hazlehurst; or, Original sin, page 182:
8
To work hard; to strive.
- He 'le tug and tew, and strive and stoope to ought.1621, Braithwaite, Nature's Embassie, page 152:
- Poor Nannie tewed on, hau'f hungered ti deead, Sha kenn'd nowt o ' t'gowd 'at war squandered awaay, Just 'arnin 'eneeaf fer watter an' breead.1914, Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society - Volumes 3-4, page 59: