ewe

[yoo; Dialect yoh]

noun

a female sheep, especially when fully mature.

Origin of ewe

before 1000; Middle English; Old English ēowu, ēwe; cognate with Old High German ou, ouwi, Dutch ooi, Latin ovis, Greek óïs, oîs, Sanskrit ávi

Can be confusedewe yew you (see usage note at you)

Ewe

[ey-vey, ey-wey]

noun

a member of a people of Togo and Ghana, in western Africa.
the Kwa language spoken by the Ewe people.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for ewes

Historical Examples of ewes

The delivery of ewes and wethers is timed by individual arrangement.
Camps, Quarters and Casual Places
Archibald Forbes
They are the most prolific breeders—the proportion of ewes bringing twins being at least fifty per cent.
Address delivered by Hon. Henry H. Crapo, Governor of Michigan, before the Central Michigan Agricultural Society, at their Sheep-shearing Exhibition held at the Agricultural College Farm, on Thursday, May 24th, 1866
Henry Howland Crapo
It is a fair thing to do because the ewes with twins do not need two.
The Story of Wool
Sara Ware Bassett
Is it on corn-husks you have been feeding your ewes that they look so sickly?
The Story of Wool
Sara Ware Bassett
That's as ill as the ewes in the yaird and nae dogs to hunt them.
The Proverbs of Scotland
Alexander Hislop

British Dictionary definitions for ewes

Ewe

noun

plural Ewe or Ewes a member of a Negroid people of W Africa living chiefly in the forests of E Ghana, Togo, and Benin
the language of this people, belonging to the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo family

ewe

noun

1. a female sheep
2. (as modifier)a ewe lamb

Word Origin for ewe

Old English ēowu; related to Old Norse ǣr ewe, Old High German ou, Latin ovis sheep, Sanskrit avi

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for ewes

ewe

Old English eowu, fem. of eow "sheep," from Proto-Germanic *awi, genitive *awjoz (cf. Old Saxon ewi, Old Frisian ei, Middle Dutch ooge, Dutch ooi, Old High German ouwi "sheep," Gothic aweþi "flock of sheep"), from PIE *owi- (cf. Sanskrit avih, Greek ois, Latin ovis, Lithuanian avis "sheep," Old Church Slavonic ovica "ewe," Old Irish oi "sheep," Welsh ewig "hind").