YEW

yew

(noun) any of numerous evergreen trees or shrubs having red cup-shaped berries and flattened needlelike leaves

yew

(noun) wood of a yew; especially the durable fine-grained light brown or red wood of the English yew valued for cabinetwork and archery bows

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

yew (countable and uncountable, plural yews)

(countable) A species of coniferous tree, Taxus baccata, with dark-green flat needle-like leaves and seeds bearing red arils, native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia.

(countable, by extension) Any tree or shrub of the genus Taxus.

Other conifers resembling plants in genus Taxus

in family Podocarpaceae

in family Cephalotaxaceae

(uncountable) The wood of the such trees.

A bow for archery, made of yew wood.

Synonyms

• (Taxus baccata): English yew, European yew, common yew

Adjective

yew (not comparable)

Made from the wood of the yew tree.

Synonym: yewen

Anagrams

• Wey, Wye, wey, wye

Source: Wiktionary


Yew, v. i.

Definition: See Yaw.

Yew, n. Etym: [OE. ew, AS. eów, iw, eoh; akin to D. ijf, OHG. iwa, iha, G. eibe, Icel. ; cf. Ir. iubhar, Gael. iubhar, iughar, W. yw, ywen, Lith. jëva the black alder tree.]

1. (Bot.)

Definition: An evergreen tree (Taxus baccata) of Europe, allied to the pines, but having a peculiar berrylike fruit instead of a cone. It frequently grows in British churchyards.

2. The wood of the yew. It is light red in color, compact, fine- grained, and very elastic. It is preferred to all other kinds of wood for bows and whipstocks, the best for these purposes coming from Spain.

Note: The American yew (Taxus baccata, var. Canadensis) is a low and straggling or prostrate bush, never forming an erect trunk. The California yew (Taxus brevifolia) is a good-sized tree, and its wood is used for bows, spear handles, paddles, and other similar implements. Another yew is found in Florida, and there are species in Japan and the Himalayas.

3. A bow for shooting, made of the yew.

Yew (u), a.

Definition: Of or pertaining to yew trees; made of the wood of a yew tree; as, a yew whipstock.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

9 May 2025

RIGHT

(noun) anything in accord with principles of justice; “he feels he is in the right”; “the rightfulness of his claim”


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According to Guinness World Records, the largest iced coffee is 14,228.1 liters and was created by Caffé Bene (South Korea), in Yangju, South Korea, on 17 July 2014. They poured iced black Americano on the giant cup that measured 3.3 meters tall and 2.62 meters wide.

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