hew
verb (used with object)
to strike forcibly with an ax, sword, or other cutting instrument; chop; hack.
was hewing
-
past progressiveof hew.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
And then Kay had broken through, and was hewing madly with great sweeps of the ax that slashed great streamers of the amorphous tissue from the wall of protoplasm.
From Astounding Stories of Super-Science, November, 1930 by Various
He forgot all about his comrades; 184 forgot even what it was all about, except that he was hewing a path to her.
From The Web of the Golden Spider by Harrison Fisher
Between the wigwam and the pavement a gigantic navvy was hewing wooden paving-blocks out of the roadway.
From The Right Stuff Some Episodes in the Career of a North Briton by Ian Hay
Nynauld %note%1 relates that in a village of Switzerland, near Lucerne, a peasant was attacked by a wolf, whilst he was hewing timber; he defended himself, and smote off a fore-leg of the beast.
From The Book of Were-Wolves by S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould
And drilling them all is a man who evidently a few days since was hewing coal from a Welsh mine.
From With our Fighting Men The story of their faith, courage, endurance in the Great War by William Edward Sellers
