hew
verb (used with object)
to strike forcibly with an ax, sword, or other cutting instrument; chop; hack.
had been hewing
-
past perfect progressiveof hew.past perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Samuel, who had been hewing at the end of a long gallery far away from the foot of the shaft, only heard of the accident to his boy on his way home.
From Taking Tales Instructive and Entertaining Reading by William Henry Giles Kingston
Now, back in the rooms where Jim and I had been hewing, there wasn't any gas to speak of.
From The Boy With the U.S. Miners by Francis Rolt-Wheeler
To Desnoyers, they seemed like sunken basins for the use of the invisible Titans who had been hewing the forest.
From The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Charlotte Brewster Jordan
