moisture condensed from the atmosphere, especially at night, and deposited in the form of small drops upon any cool surface.
something like or compared to such drops of moisture, as in purity, delicacy, or refreshing quality.
moisture in small drops on a surface, as tears or perspiration.
Informal.
drops of water condensed on a cool surface, esp at night, from vapour in the air
( in combination )
dewdrop
something like or suggestive of this, esp in freshness
the dew of youth
small drops of moisture, such as tears
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.
See also frost
before 900; Middle English; Old English dēaw; cognate with German Tau, Old Norse dǫgg
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.
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This month, PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said that the company’s new Dirty Mountain Dew, which brings cream-soda taste to classic Mountain Dew, had been a winner thus far as well.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 29, 2026
In PepsiCo’s flagship beverage business, which includes Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew and Gatorade, the company has focused on expanding sugar-free beverages, recently holding its “Pepsi Challenge” with Pepsi Zero Sugar.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 8, 2025
The couple took over The Dew Drop Inn, a jukebox joint, and turned it into a beauty salon.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 12, 2025
One clip on Instagram, which has been viewed over 21.5 million times, shows a man ordering "a large Mountain Dew" and the AI voice continually replying "and what will you drink with that?"
From BBC • Aug. 29, 2025
So there I was, waving my arms and hopping around like a turkey amped up on Mountain Dew, when the planted foot was kicked out from under me.
From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
