hew

[ hyoo or, often, yoo ]

/ hyu or, often, yu /

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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.

OTHER WORDS FOR hew

2 form.

See synonyms for hew on Thesaurus.com

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Origin of hew

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

synonym study for hew

1. See cut.

OTHER WORDS FROM hew

hew·a·ble, adjectivehewer, nounun·hew·a·ble, adjectiveun·hewed, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH hew

hew , hue

Other definitions for hew (2 of 2)

HEW

abbreviation

Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use hew in a sentence

Mostly, the night hewed to its mission: attending to burgeoning design houses.
CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards Honor the Next Big Designers|Robin Givhan|November 15, 2011|DAILY BEAST
More than a few of them would likely join the opposition for a choice whose views hewed too closely to the man being replaced.
Will Obama Screw the Left Again?|Eric Alterman|April 5, 2010|DAILY BEAST
He was a mighty woodsman now, and could make a spray of chips fly around him as he hewed his way through the trunk of spruce-tree.
The First Christmas Tree|Henry Van Dyke
I sat on a rude wooden bench of newly-hewed wood, lit my pipe again without interference.
Valley of the Croen|Lee Tarbell

The long Frankish swords hewed down the Ismaelians before their short cimeters could strike.
God Wills It!|William Stearns Davis
Once at least he was compelled to hang downwards by his toes while he hewed steps beneath him in a perpendicular wall of ice.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 147, August 12, 1914|Various
Later on, a sheep's carcass (very thin) is thrown down and hewed up with a bill-hook.
In the Ranks of the C.I.V.|Erskine Childers

British Dictionary definitions for hew (1 of 2)

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 forms of hew

hewer, noun

Word Origin for hew

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

British Dictionary definitions for hew (2 of 2)

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