hew

[ hyoo or, often, yoo ]

/ hyu or, often, yu /

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.

Nearby words

Origin of hew

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

SYNONYMS FOR hew

2. form.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hew ON THESAURUS.COM

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

Can be confusedhew hue Hugh

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for 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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
Behind all the finger-wagging is the idea that movies about history need to hew to facts.
Heil, Tarantino!|Caryn James|August 20, 2009|DAILY BEAST
Some men marked where they were to hew but father had such a good eye that he could hew straight without a mark.
Old Rail Fence Corners|Various

Once she had asked her small vicarious favour of Hew, she could write to Mrs. Kaye, and take the note to the rectory herself.
Jane Oglander|Marie Belloc Lowndes
I got the woods correctly measured: I set men to hew, to sow, to plant; in a short time, all things were in progress.
Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and Travels, Vol. I (of 2)|Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
To do this flumes had to be made, and axes were in request to hew them out.
Gold, Gold, in Cariboo!|Clive Phillipps-Wolley
You ought to know how to hew a short cut to him, Truedale; you did some hacking through underbrush yourself.
The Man Thou Gavest|Harriet T. Comstock

British Dictionary definitions for hew

hew

/ (hjuː) /

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

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.