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jewed

 - 3 dictionary results

Jew

[joo]
–noun
1. one of a scattered group of people that traces its descent from the Biblical Hebrews or from postexilic adherents of Judaism; Israelite.
2. a person whose religion is Judaism.
3. a subject of the ancient kingdom of Judah.
–adjective
4. Offensive. of Jews; Jewish.
–verb (used with object)
5. (lowercase) Offensive. to bargain sharply with; beat down in price (often fol. by down).

Origin:
1125–75; ME jewe, giu, gyu, ju < OF juiu, juieu, gyu < LL judēus, L jūdaeus < Gk ioudaîos < Aram yehūdāi < Heb Yəhūdhī, deriv. of Yəhūdhāh Judah; r. OE iūdēas Jews < LL jūdē(us) + OE -as pl. ending
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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jew   (jōō)   
tr.v.   jewed, jew·ing, jews Offensive
  1. To bargain shrewdly or unfairly with. Often used with down.

  2. To haggle so as to reduce (a price). Often used with down.


[From Jews' supposedly extortionate practices as moneylenders in the Middle Ages.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

Jew  (n.)
c.1175 (in plural, giwis), from Anglo-Fr. iuw, from O.Fr. giu, from L. Judaeum (nom. Judaeus), from Gk. Ioudaios, from Aramaic jehudhai (Heb. y'hudi "Jew," from Y'hudah "Judah," lit. "celebrated," name of Jacob's fourth son and of the tribe descended from him. Replaced O.E. Iudeas "the Jews." Originally, "Hebrew of the kingdom of Judah." Jews' harp "simple mouth harp" is from 1584, earlier Jews' trump (1545); the connection with Jewishness is obscure. Jew-baiting first recorded 1853, in ref. to Ger. Judenhetze. In uneducated times, inexplicable ancient artifacts were credited to Jews, based on the biblical chronology of history: e.g. Jews' money (1577) "Roman coins found in England." In Greece, after Christianity had erased the memory of classical glory, ruins of pagan temples were called "Jews' castles."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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