Adjacent Words

Hew definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

HEW, v.t. pret. hewed; pp. hewed or hewn.
1. To cut with an ax, or other like instrument, for the purpose of making an even surface or side; as, to hew timber.
2. To chop; to cut; to hack; as, to hew in pieces.
3. To cut with a chisel; to make smooth; as, to hew stone.
4. To form or shape with an edged instrument; with out; as, to hew out a sepulcher. Isaiah 22.
5. To form laboriously.
I now pass my days,not studious nor idle, rather polishing old works than hewing out new ones. [Unusual.]
To hew down, to cut down; to fell by cutting.
To hew off, to cut off; to separate by a cutting instrument.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: make or shape as with an axe; "hew out a path in the rock" [syn: hew, hew out]
2: strike with an axe; cut down, strike; "hew an oak"

Merriam Webster's

verb (hewed; hewed or hewn; hewing) Etymology: Middle English, from Old English h?awan; akin to Old High German houwan to hew, Lithuanian kauti to forge, Latin cudere to beat Date: before 12th century transitive verb 1. to cut with blows of a heavy cutting instrument 2. to fell by blows of an ax <hew a tree> 3. to give form or shape to with or as if with heavy cutting blows <hewed their farms from the wilderness — J. T. Shotwell> intransitive verb 1. to make cutting blows 2. conform, adhere <hew to tradition> — often used in the phrase hew to the line <no pressure…on newspapers to hew to the official line — New York Times Magazine> • hewer noun

Merriam Webster's

abbreviation Department of Health, Education, and Welfare

Oxford Reference Dictionary

abbr. US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. (past part. hewn or hewed) 1 tr. a (often foll. by down, away, off) chop or cut (a thing) with an axe, a sword, etc. b cut (a block of wood etc.) into shape. 2 intr. (often foll. by at, among, etc.) strike cutting blows. 3 intr. US (usu. foll. by to) conform. Phrases and idioms: hew one's way make a way for oneself by hewing. Etymology: OE heawan f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Hew Hew, n. Destruction by cutting down. [Obs.] Of whom he makes such havoc and such hew. --Spenser.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Hew Hew, n. 1. Hue; color. [Obs.] --Chaucer. 2. Shape; form. [Obs.] --Spenser.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Hew Hew, v. t. [imp. Hewed; p. p. Hewed or Hewn; p. pr. & vb. n. Hewing.] [AS. he['a]wan; akin to D. houwen, OHG. houwan, G. hauen, Icel. h["o]ggva, Sw. hugga, Dan. hugge, Lith. kova battle, Russ. kovate to hammer, forge. Cf. Hay cut grass, Hoe.] 1. To cut with an ax; to fell with a sharp instrument; -- often with down, or off. --Shak. 2. To form or shape with a sharp instrument; to cut; hence, to form laboriously; -- often with out; as, to hew out a sepulcher. Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn. --Is. li. 1. Rather polishing old works than hewing out new. --Pope. 3. To cut in pieces; to chop; to hack. Hew them to pieces; hack their bones asunder. --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(hews, hewing, hewed, hewed, or hewn) 1. If you hew stone or wood, you cut it, for example with an axe. (OLD-FASHIONED) He felled, peeled and hewed his own timber. = chop VERB: V n 2. If something is hewn from stone or wood, it is cut from stone or wood. (LITERARY, OLD-FASHIONED) ...the rock from which the lower chambers and subterranean passageways have been hewn. ...medieval monasteries hewn out of the rockface. = cut VERB: usu passive, be V-ed from/out of n, V-ed 3. see also rough-hewn

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Cut, chop, hack. 2. Smooth (with an axe), fashion, form.

Moby Thesaurus

amputate, ax, bisect, block out, blow down, blow over, bowl down, bowl over, bring down, bulldog, butcher, carve, cast, cast down, chisel, chop, chop down, cleave, create, cut, cut away, cut down, cut in two, cut off, dash down, deck, dichotomize, dissever, down, drop, efform, excise, fashion, fell, fetch down, figure, fissure, fix, floor, forge, form, formalize, found, frame, gash, ground, hack, halve, hew down, incise, jigsaw, knead, knock down, knock out, lance, lay level, lay low, lay out, level, lick into shape, mint, model, mold, mow down, pare, precipitate, prostrate, prune, pull down, rase, raze, rend, rive, rough out, roughcast, roughhew, saw, scissor, sculpt, sculpture, send headlong, set, sever, shape, slash, slice, slit, snip, split, spread-eagle, stamp, sunder, supinate, tailor, take down, tear, thermoform, throw, throw down, topple, trip, tumble, whack down, whittle, work