Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A migratory gull (Larus canus) that breeds in northern Eurasia and northwest North America.
- intransitive verb To make a high-pitched, crying sound, as that of a cat.
- noun A high-pitching crying sound, especially that of a cat.
- noun A cage for hawks, especially when molting.
- noun A secret place; a hideaway.
- noun A group of buildings originally containing private stables, often converted into residential apartments.
- noun A small street, alley, or courtyard on which such buildings stand.
- intransitive verb To confine in or as if in a cage.
- intransitive verb To molt. Used of a hawk.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To cry as a cat.
- noun The cry of a cat.
- To change (the covering or dress); especially, to shed, as feathers; molt.
- To shut up; confine, as in a cage or other inclosure; immure.
- An obsolete or dialectal preterit of
mow . - noun A dialectal variant of
mow . - noun A cage for birds while mewing or molting; hence, any cage or coop for birds, especially for hawks.
- noun Hence An inclosure; a close place; a place of retirement or confinement.
- noun A place where fowls were confined for fattening.
- noun plural A stable. See
mews . - noun The herb spignel.
- noun A gull; a sea-mew. See cut under
gull .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) A gull, esp. the common British species (
Larus canus ); called alsosea mew ,maa ,mar ,mow , andcobb . - intransitive verb To cast the feathers; to molt; hence, to change; to put on a new appearance.
- transitive verb To shed or cast; to change; to molt.
- transitive verb To shut up; to inclose; to confine, as in a cage or other inclosure.
- noun The common cry of a cat.
- intransitive verb To cry as a cat.
- noun 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.
- noun 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.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun obsolete A
gull ,seagull . - noun The crying sound of a cat; a
meow . - verb of a cat To
meow . - interjection A cat's cry.
- noun obsolete A
prison , or other place of confinement. - noun obsolete A hiding-place; a secret store or den.
- noun falconry A cage for
hawks , especially whilemoulting . - noun falconry, in the plural A building or set of buildings where moulting birds are kept.
- verb obsolete To shut away,
confine ,lock up . - verb of a bird To
moult .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb utter a high-pitched cry, as of seagulls
- verb cry like a cat
- noun the sound made by a cat (or any sound resembling this)
- noun the common gull of Eurasia and northeastern North America
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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September 26th, 2005 at 1: 39 am boo hoo baby its not our fault you are useless im in mew nealand and it works for me anyone can build a computer its a lot easier than configering your windows system one would think took me all of 30 sec
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The seagull is also known as the mew, likewise an imitative name.
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[3] Beckett's French translation of Murphy gives the "mew" in West Brompton as "l'impasse de l'Enfant Jésus," introducing a Christian reference into the city grid.
Beckett: Still Stirring Parks, Tim 2006
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The critic Christopher Ricks has pointed out that "mew" rather than the more correct "mews" is in fact an archaic word for "cage."
Beckett: Still Stirring Parks, Tim 2006
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The cat goes around meekly, crying "mew," while the rest dance around her.
Games For All Occasions Mary E. Blain
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I again affirm that I need make no apology for attaching my name to that of one so worthy the esteem of his co-dogs, ay, and co-cats too; for in spite of the differences which have so often raised up a barrier between the members of his race and ours, not even the noblest among us could be degraded by raising a "mew" to the honour of such a thoroughly honest dog.
The Adventures of a Dog, and a Good Dog Too Alfred Elwes
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As a rule, the gelded cat does not "mew" to make known his wants, but employs his voice for conversational purposes.
Concerning Cats My Own and Some Others Helen M. Winslow
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A starved kitten, which shapes out of nothing and is there complete and instantaneous at your feet -- ginger stripes, and a mew which is weak, but a veritable voice of the living -- is first
Old Junk 1915
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It gave a frightened "mew," but a single shake cut that short and would have ended Kitty's nine lives at once, had not the negro come to the rescue.
Animal Heroes Ernest Thompson Seton 1903
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The next morning, figure my horror! to hear a plaintive 'mew' outside my door.
Selections from the Letters of Geraldine Endsor Jewsbury to Jane Welsh Carlyle 1892
roseandivy commented on the word mew
Also to confine, as in a cage or pen.
March 19, 2008
yarb commented on the word mew
High Summer. He heard through the open door
a buzzard mew on an aloof thermal.
- Peter Reading, Ménage à Trois, from The Prison Cell & Barrel Mystery, 1976
June 23, 2008