hew
verb (used with object)
to strike forcibly with an ax, sword, or other cutting instrument; chop; hack.
had hewn
-
past perfectof hew.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
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.
She grasped the clean white shaft of a miner's pick and, after four short swings with the pick, had hewn her piece of Nottinghamshire coal.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 8, 2011
A notched and broken sword lay by him, as if he had hewn at the rock in his last despair.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Their character they had hewn for themselves, with a chisel unknown to the Greeks, out of the brute mass of their instincts.
From Roads from Rome by Anne C. E. (Anne Crosby Emery) Allinson
Silhouetted against a turquoise sky was an arch of rainbow shape, so delicately proportioned that it seemed as if some great sculptor had hewn it from the rock.
From The Book of the National Parks by Robert Sterling Yard
In the very hour of triumph, when his strong right hand had hewn down his enemy on the field—in that moment has he fallen!
From The White Chief A Legend of Northern Mexico by L. Evans
