What does "mew" mean?
Mew: A cage for hawks while mewing; a coop for fattening fowls; hence, any inclosure; a place of confinement or shelter; -- in the latter sense usually in the plural. Full many a fat partrich had he in mewe. Chaucer. Forthcoming from her darksome mew. Spenser. Violets in their secret mews. Wordsworth.
Additional senses
- 2.A stable or range of stables for horses; -- compound used in the plural, and so called from the royal stables in London, built on the site of the king's mews for hawks.
- 3.To shut up; to inclose; to confine, as in a cage or other inclosure. More pity that the eagle should be mewed. Shak. Close mewed in their sedans, for fear of air. Dryden.
- 4.To cry as a cat. [Written also meaw, meow.] Shak.
- 5.The common cry of a cat. Shak.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00