mew

noun

the tiny, high-pitched sound a cat or kitten makes.

the characteristic sound a gull makes.

verb (used without object)

to make a mew or emit a similar sound.

Origin:
1275–1325; Middle English meuen; imitative

Can be confused: mews, muse.

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

a small gull, Larus canus, of Eurasia and northwestern North America.

Also called mew gull.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English; Old English mǣwe; cognate with German Müwe

Relevant Questions

00:10

Mew is one of our favorite verbs.

So is peculate. Does it mean:

to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.

to spend time idly; loaf.

LEARN MORE FUN, UNUSUAL VERBS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

noun

a cage for hawks, especially while molting.

a pen in which poultry is fattened.

a place of retirement or concealment.

mews, ( usually used with a singular verb ) Chiefly British.

(formerly) an area of stables built around a small street.

a street having small apartments converted from such stables.

verb (used with object)

Archaic. to shut up in or as in a mew; confine; conceal (often followed by up ).

Origin:
1325–75; Middle English mue < Middle French, akin to muer to molt. See mew⁴

verb (used with object), verb (used without object)

to shed (feathers); to molt.

Origin:
1325–75; Middle English mewen < Old French muer to molt < Latin mūtāre to change

Related forms

mew·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins

World English Dictionary

mew¹ (mjuː)

—vb
1.	(intr) (esp of a cat) to make a characteristic high-pitched cry

—n
2.	such a sound

[C14: imitative]

mew² (mjuː)

—n
	mew gull, Also called: sea mew any seagull, esp the common gull, Larus canus

[Old English mǣw; compare Old Saxon mēu, Middle Dutch mēwe]

mew³ (mjuː)

—n
1.	a room or cage for hawks, esp while moulting

—vb (often foll by up)
2.	to confine (hawks or falcons) in a shelter, cage, etc, usually by tethering them to a perch
3.	to confine, conceal

[C14: from Old French mue, from muer to moult, from Latin mūtāre to change]

mew⁴ (mjuː)

—vb
1.	(intr) (of hawks or falcons) to moult
2.	obsolete (tr) to shed (one's covering, clothes, etc)

[C14: from Old French muer to moult, from Latin mūtāre to change]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

mew

"make a sound like a cat," early 14c., mewen, of imitative origin (cf. Ger. miauen, Fr. miauler, It. miagolare, Sp. maullar, and see meow). Related: Mewed; mewing.

mew

"seagull," O.E. mæw, from P.Gmc. *maigwis (cf. O.S. mew, Fris. meau, M.L.G. mewe, Du. meeuw "gull"), of imitative origin. O.Fr. moue (Fr. mouette) and Lith. mevas are Gmc. loan-words.

mew

"cage," c.1300, from O.Fr. mue "cage for hawks, especially when molting," from muer "to molt," from L. mutare "to change" (see mutable).

Matching Quote

"It is a very inconvenient habit of kittens (Alice had once made the remark) that, whatever you say to them, they always purr. "If they would only purr for 'yes,' and mew for 'no,' or any rule of that sort," she had said, "so that one could keep up a conversation! But how can you talk with a person if they always say the same thing?""

-Lewis Carroll

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