MEWSING
MEWS
Mews, n. sing. & pl. Etym: [Prop. pl. of mew. See Mew a cage.]
Definition: An alley where there are stables; a narrow passage; a confined
place. [Eng.]
Mr. Turveydrop's great room... was built out into a mews at the back.
Dickens.
MEW
Mew, n. Etym: [AS. m, akin to D. meeuw, G. möwe, OHG. m, Icel. mar.]
(Zoöl.)
Definition: A gull, esp. the common British species (Larus canus); called
also sea mew, maa, mar, mow, and cobb.
Mew, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Mewed; p. pr. & vb. n. Mewing.] Etym: [OE.
muen, F. muer, fr. L. mutare to change, fr. movere to move. See Move,
and cf. Mew a cage, Molt.]
Definition: To shed or cast; to change; to molt; as, the hawk mewed his
feathers.
Nine times the moon had mewed her horns. Dryden.
Mew, v. i.
Definition: To cast the feathers; to molt; hence, to change; to put on a
new appearance.
Now everything doth mew, And shifts his rustic winter robe.
Turbervile.
Mew, n. Etym: [OE. mue, F. mue change of feathers, scales, skin, the
time or place when the change occurs, fr. muer to molt, mew, L.
mutare to change. See 2d Mew.]
1. 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.
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.
Mew, v. t. Etym: [From Mew a cage.]
Definition: 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.
Mew, v. i. Etym: [Of imitative origin; cf. G. miauen.]
Definition: To cry as a cat. [Written also meaw, meow.] Shak.
Mew, n.
Definition: The common cry of a cat. Shak.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition