hew Hear it!

hew Definition

hew (hyo̵̅o̅)

transitive verb hewed, hewed or hewn, hew′·ing

  1. to chop or cut with an ax, knife, etc.; hack; gash
  2. to make or shape by or as by cutting or chopping with an ax, etc.: often with out
  3. to chop (a tree) with an ax so as to cause it to fall: usually with down

Etymology: ME hewen < OE heawan, akin to Ger hauen, OHG houwan < IE base *kāu-, *keu-, to hew, strike > hay, L caudex, codex, cudere

intransitive verb

  1. to make cutting or chopping blows with an ax, knife, etc.
  2. ☆ to conform or adhere (to a line, rule, principle, etc.)

hew Related Forms
hew′er noun
HEW Definition

HEW

(Department of) Health, Education, and Welfare (1953-79)

hew Synonyms

hew

v.

slit, slash, fell; see cut 1.

hew Usage Examples

Object

  • granite: It is in the form of a celtic crosshead of rough hewn granite in the center of which is a carved wreath.
  • coal: The collier had other tasks to carry out in addition to hewing the coal.
  • stone: These works are much defaced, the hewn stones having been carried off to make field dikes.
  • rock: They are exemplified by the huge rock Hewn churches in Lalibela, said to be built with ' the help of angels ' .
  • block: The rough hewn free standing blocks show the scars of repeated chisel blows where they were chiseled out of the rock face.
  • step: We climbed the roughly hewn stone steps that led to the elevated platform of the temple under the feeble light from an overcast sky.

Subject

  • hand: Chislehurst Caves are a labyrinth of dark, eerie mysterious passageways which have been hewn by hand from the chalk deep beneath Chislehurst.

Preposition: into

  • rock: As you draw near to the monument you notice that there are steps hewn into the rock.

Modifying Another Word

  • roughly: We climbed the roughly hewn stone steps that led to the elevated platform of the temple under the feeble light from an overcast sky.
  • down: Here lies our lord, hewn down, the good man lies in the dirt.
  • hand: They are each about 10m high, over one meter in diameter, and like everything else in the hotel they are hand hewn.
  • all: Here lies our Lord all hewn down, 315 goodly he lies in the dust.

Followed by an intransitive particle

  • down: Here lies our Lord all hewn down, 315 goodly he lies in the dust.

Followed by a transitive particle

  • down: Private Hodge and another man, who was afterward killed, volunteered to hew down the stockade.

Preposition: in

  • rock: There was a crypt with eight tombs hewn in rock under the martyrium which contained seven tombs.

Preposition: from

  • rock: Beyond the door was a tunnel, roughly hewn from the rock of the mountainside.
  • stone: About forty small altars surveyed by S Gitin were all hewn from a single large stone.
  • block: Next oldest is the font, roughly hewn from a single granite block, which is possibly Saxon but no later than Norman.
  • quarry: This variation comes about from the stone being hewn from different quarries at different times.

Preposition: by

  • hand: Chislehurst Caves are a labyrinth of dark, eerie mysterious passageways which have been hewn by hand from the chalk deep beneath Chislehurst.
hew Quotes

To endeavour to work upon the vulgar with fine sense, is like attempting to hew blocks with a razor.

—Pope, Alexander