mew
/ˈmjuː/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.00 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A cage for hawks, especially while moulting.
verb
To moult.
Example Sentences
- "A daungerous and detestable place, To which nor fish nor fowle did once approch, But yelling Meawes, with Seagulles hoarse and bace […]"
- "From helm to sea they saw him leap, As arrow from the string, And dive into the water deep, As mew upon the wing."
- "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."
- "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."
- "More pity that the eagle should be mew’d, While kites and buzzards prey at liberty."
- "To mew me in a Ship, is to inthrall Mee in a prison, that weare like to fall;"
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”).