mew Meaning, Definition & Usage

Mew noun

Etymology

AS. mw, akin to D. meeuw, G. möwe, OHG. mh, Icel. mar.

Definitions

1. (Zoöl.) A gull, esp. the common British species (Larus canus); called also sea mew, maa, mar, mow, and cobb.

Mew transitive verb

Etymology

OE. muen, F. muer, fr. L. mutare to change, fr. movere to move. See Move, and cf. Mew a cage, Molt.

Wordforms

imperfect & past participle Mewed; present participle & verbal noun Mewing

Definitions

1. To shed or cast; to change; to molt; as, the hawk mewed his feathers.

   Nine times the moon had mewed her horns. Dryden.

Mew intransitive verb

Definitions

1. To cast the feathers; to molt; hence, to change; to put on a new appearance.

   Now everything doth mew, And shifts his rustic winter robe. Turbervile.

Mew noun

Etymology

OE. mue, F. mue change of feathers, scales, skin, the time or place when the change occurs, fr. muer to molt, mew, L. mutare to change. See 2d Mew.

Definitions

1. A cage for hawks while mewing; a coop for fattening fowls; hence, any inclosure; a place of confinement or shelter; -- in the latter sense usually in the plural.

   Full many a fat partrich had he in mewe. Chaucer.

   Forthcoming from her darksome mew. Spenser.

   Violets in their secret mews. Wordsworth.

2. A stable or range of stables for horses; -- compound used in the plural, and so called from the royal stables in London, built on the site of the king's mews for hawks.

Mew transitive verb

Etymology

From Mew a cage.

Definitions

1. To shut up; to inclose; to confine, as in a cage or other inclosure.

   More pity that the eagle should be mewed. Shak.

   Close mewed in their sedans, for fear of air. Dryden.

Mew intransitive verb

Etymology

Of imitative origin; cf. G. miauen.

Definitions

1. To cry as a cat. Written also meaw, meow. Shak.

Mew noun

Definitions

1. The common cry of a cat. Shak.