hew

[hyoo or, often, yoo]

See more synonyms for hew on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object), hewed, hewed or hewn, hew·ing.

to strike forcibly with an ax, sword, or other cutting instrument; chop; hack.
to make, shape, smooth, etc., with cutting blows: to hew a passage through the crowd; to hew a statue from marble.
to sever (a part) from a whole by means of cutting blows (usually followed by away, off, out, from, etc.): to hew branches from the tree.

to cut down; fell: to hew wood; trees hewed down by the storm.

verb (used without object), hewed, hewed or hewn, hew·ing.

to strike with cutting blows; cut: He hewed more vigorously each time.
to uphold, follow closely, or conform (usually followed by to): to hew to the tenets of one's political party.

Origin of hew

before 900; Middle English hewen, Old English hēawan; cognate with German hauen, Old Norse hǫggva; akin to haggle

Related formshew·a·ble, adjectivehew·er, nounun·hew·a·ble, adjectiveun·hewed, adjective

Can be confusedhew hue Hugh

Synonyms for hew

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2. form.

Synonym study

1. See cut.

HEW

Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

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

Related Words for hew

cleave, fashion, prune, chip, stroke, chop, strike, shape, fell, hack, carve, hold, axe

Examples from the Web for hew

Contemporary Examples of hew

That may make them more likely to, collectively, hew to a more moderate path when giving odds on the election.
Intrade: An Ohio Story
Matthew Zeitlin
November 5, 2012
After Jobs left, Scully says, the company tried to hew to his design philosophy.
7 Best Reads on Steve Jobs's Life
Josh Dzieza
October 6, 2011
Behind all the finger-wagging is the idea that movies about history need to hew to facts.
Heil, Tarantino!
Caryn James
August 20, 2009

Historical Examples of hew

"I intend to hew to the line, let the chips fall where they may," the statement said.
Spring Street
James H. Richardson
We will mark a straight line on the log and hew to that line.
Evening Round Up
William Crosbie Hunter
I guess I can wait till they've begun to hew out their underpinnin'.
Country Neighbors
Alice Brown
The astounded brothers were dragged away to hack and hew and carry.
Peter and Wendy
James Matthew Barrie
They draw their long scalping-knives, and hew off broad steaks.
The Scalp Hunters
Mayne Reid

British Dictionary definitions for hew

hew

verb hews, hewing, hewed, hewed or hewn (hjuːn)

to strike (something, esp wood) with cutting blows, as with an axe
(tr often foll by out) to shape or carve from a substance
(tr; often foll by away, down, from, off, etc) to sever from a larger or another portion
(intr often foll by to) US and Canadian to conform (to a code, principle, etc)

Derived Formshewer, noun

Word Origin for hew

Old English hēawan; related to Old Norse heggva, Old Saxon hāwa, Old High German houwan, Latin cūdere to beat

HEW

abbreviation for (in the US)

Department of Health, Education, and Welfare

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 hew

Old English heawan "to chop, hack, gash" (class VII strong verb; past tense heow, past participle heawen), earlier geheawan, from Proto-Germanic *hawwan (cf. Old Norse hoggva, Old Frisian hawa, Old Saxon hauwan, Middle Dutch hauwen, Dutch houwen, Old High German houwan, German hauen "to cut, strike, hew"), from PIE root *kau- "to hew, strike" (cf. Old Church Slavonic kovo, Lithuanian kauju "to beat, forge;" Latin cudere "to strike, beat;" Middle Irish cuad "beat, fight").

Weak past participle hewede appeared 14c., but hasn't displaced hewn. Seemingly contradictory sense of "hold fast, stick to" (in phrase hew to) developed from hew to the line "stick to a course," literally "cut evenly with an axe or saw," first recorded 1891. Related: Hewed; hewing.