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.
Meantime, the helper, whose name was Henry Jones, was hewing an oaken cross-beam which supported the ceiling, and which I could not pass under without violently knocking my head.
From Dwellers in Arcady The Story of an Abandoned Farm by Thomas Fogarty
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
Then the workman that was hewing the inside walls to make them smooth, wounded himself with the broad axe, and was unable to resume his work for some time.
From The Backwoods of Canada Being Letters From The Wife of an Emigrant Officer, Illustrative of the Domestic Economy of British America by Catharine Parr Strickland Traill
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
Like some incarnate spirit in prison, which indeed he was; hewing on granite walls for deliverance; striking fire flashes from them.
From The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle
