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• dew
  dew

  noun

  moisture condensed from the atmosphere, especially at night, and deposited in the form of small drops upon any cool surface.
• DEW
  DEW

  distant early warning.

dew

¹ American  

[doo, dyoo] / du, dju /

noun

1. moisture condensed from the atmosphere, especially at night, and deposited in the form of small drops upon any cool surface.

2. something like or compared to such drops of moisture, as in purity, delicacy, or refreshing quality.

3. moisture in small drops on a surface, as tears or perspiration.

4. Informal.

   1. Scotch whisky.

   2. mountain dew.

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verb (used with object)

• dews,
  present (3rd person singular)
• dewed,
  past participle,  past
• dewing
  present participle

1. to wet with or as with dew.

DEW ² American  

[doo, dyoo] / du, dju /

1. distant early warning.

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dew British  

/ djuː /

noun

1. 1. drops of water condensed on a cool surface, esp at night, from vapour in the air

   2. ( in combination )

      dewdrop

2. something like or suggestive of this, esp in freshness

   the dew of youth

3. small drops of moisture, such as tears

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verb

1. poetic (tr) to moisten with or as with dew

dew Scientific  

/ do̅o̅ /

1. Water droplets condensed from the air, usually at night, onto cool surfaces near the ground. Dew forms when the temperature of the surfaces falls below the dew point of the surrounding air, usually due to radiational cooling.

2. See also frost

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• dewless
  adjective
• undewed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• dewing
  present
• dewed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• dew
  simple
• dews
  simple
• have dewed
  perfect
• has dewed
  perfect
• am dewing
  progressive
• are dewing
  progressive
• is dewing
  progressive
• have been dewing
  perfect progressive
• has been dewing
  perfect progressive

Past

• dewed
  simple
• had dewed
  perfect
• was dewing
  progressive
• were dewing
  progressive
• had been dewing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will dew
  simple
• will have dewed
  perfect
• will be dewing
  progressive
• will have been dewing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of dew

before 900; Middle English; Old English dēaw; cognate with German Tau, Old Norse dǫgg

Explanation

Dew is moisture caused by condensation of water vapor in the air. Dew is what gets your feet wet when you walk across the grass on a summer morning. Think about a summer night — the sun goes down and the air begins to cool, along with everything that is outside, like grass. Then the sun comes up. The air heats up again, more quickly that the objects. This causes condensation — dew — on grass, plants, car windshields, and so on. Dew quickly evaporates in the sun. That's why you really only see and feel it early in the morning during summer.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dew DEW dews dewed dewing

According to the weather service office in Tampa, Fla., a dew point of below 60 degrees is comfortable; above 65 feels muggy; above 70, very humid and uncomfortable; and above 75, oppressive.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

“Even if it’s a 10- to 15-degree difference in dew point, it’s pretty drastic.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

He also came to treasure his time mowing the fairways each morning before the golfers arrived, the dew glistening on the grass while the nibbling, untroubled deer looked on from the rough.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

In the absence of dew, which makes it harder for bowlers to grip the ball, the pitch at Wankhede Stadium offered more turn than any other at this World Cup so far.

From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2026

The air was cool, and the dew had settled in tiny beads on her hair and on the sleeping bag.

From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman

Estimates of the potential market for DEW vary widely, as they often do in emerging defense categories, but most point in the same direction: rapid growth from a still-small base.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026

Billions of dollars have been invested in the technology, and in 2018 the US Navy ordered two DEW prototypes for around $75 million each.

From Barron's ● Mar. 16, 2026

Umi Patel, the Vice President of consumer insights and analytics at PepsiCo Beverages North America, said the new visual identity "tested positively and drove positive purchase intent across DEW loyalists, Gen Z and millennial consumers."

From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2024

Perkins, 31, of Marion, Texas, calls his fluffy mullet the DEW, which stands for the Danny Earl Way.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 9, 2022

On Thursday morning all broadcasts broke off to report that the DEW line of radars across Canada had reported objects in the air moving across the North Pole toward the United States.

From Long Ago, Far Away by Murray Leinster

After long basking on the French Riviera, Somerset Maugham returned to London for a ten-week chill in Britain's foggy-foggy autumnal dews.

From Time Magazine Archive

While the groups that attacked Javits professed to reflect the dews of U.S.

From Time Magazine Archive

The stillness of noon, the depths of twilight, and the dews and pearls of the morning, are all to be found on the | canvases of this most benevolent and kindhearted man.

From Time Magazine Archive

He stooped to remove his shoes, damp with the heavy dews of pasture and field.

From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt

Hues That shame the rainbow's royal arch Set all the harvest fields a-gleam With beauty, fresh with fragrant dews To crown the season's onward march.

From The Optimist's Good Morning by Florence Hobart Perin

In the Philippines a native combo dewed the eyes of the crew of an LST with a proud performance of Stardust.

From Time Magazine Archive

The sky is pale blue there, dewed with yellow.

From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz

In the corner of my eye, I could only see a hint of him—eyes as incandescently blue as the heart of fire, a briar of dark hair dewed with lagoon water.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

I crammed my ribbon tie in my vest pocket and unbuttoned my collar, wiping at the clammy sweat dewed on my neck.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

Their corners were vague, their facades streaked, dewed, smeared.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Sadly not, for the dewing is done by sprinklers, and the baby is alone.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 5, 2019

In our isle's enchanted hall, Hands unseen thy couch are strewing, 630 Fairy strains of music fall, Every sense in slumber dewing.

From Lady of the Lake by William Vaughn Moody

I could see the lips whitening and drying, the forehead dewing with tiny beads of perspiration.

From The Sixth Sense A Novel by Stephen McKenna

In our isle’s enchanted hall, Hands unseen thy couch are strewing, Fairy strains of music fall, Every sense in slumber dewing.

From Born to Wander A Boy's Book of Nomadic Adventures by Gordon Stables

"I say, Capting," said a tall Yankee in a fur hat, to Peter, "what may yew calculate dewing on Long Island?"

From Red, White, Blue Socks, Part First Being the First Book by Sarah L. Barrow