| 释义 |
▪ I. mew, n.1|mjuː|
Forms: 1 mǽw (méau, méu, méᵹ), 5 mewe, 7 meaw(e, 6– mew.
[OE. mǽw str. masc. corresponds to OS. mêu (MDu., MLG. mêwe fem., whence mod.Ger. möwe; Du. meeuw fem.):—OTeut. type *maigwi-z; related by consonant-ablaut to the synon. *maihwo-z, whence OHG. mêh, ON. má-r (pl. mávar, máfar); the pre-Teut. forms would be *ˈmoiqo-s, moiˈqi-s.]
A gull, esp. the common gull, Larus canus; a sea-mew.
c725Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) A. 478 Alcido, meau. a900Gloss. in Cockayne Shrine 29/2 Larum, meu vel meᵹ. a1000Andreas 371 (Gr.) Se ᵹræᵹa mæw. c1440Promp. Parv. 346/1 Mowe, byrd, or semewe, aspergo. a1490Botoner Itin. (Nasmith 1778) 147 Aves vocatæ mewys. 1558T. Phaer æneid v. M ij b, A pleasant playne of feeld, where often Mewes and birds of seas doth kepe their haunting walke. 1624Capt. Smith Virginia vi. 216 Meawes, Gulls,..and many other sorts [of birds]. 1693Dryden Persius' Sat. vi. (1726) 292 And on her shatter'd Masts the Mews in Triumph ride. 1814Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xxvii, And clamour'd shrill the wakening mew. 1867J. Ingelow Poems, Sea Mews iv, A rock, Where many mews made twittering sweet.
▪ II. mew, n.2|mjuː|
Forms: 4–5 muwe, meuwe, 5 mu, mwe, 4–7 mewe, 4–8 mue, (7 miew), 5– mew.
[a. F. mue fem., vbl. n. f. muer mew v.1 Cf. the equivalent Pr., Sp., It. muda.]
1. A cage for hawks, esp. while ‘mewing’ or moulting.
13..Guy Warw. (Caius) 77 As demure [she was] As girfauk, or fawkon to lure, That oute of muwe were drawe. c1386Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 635 And by hire beddes heed she made a Mewe [for a hawk]. c1440Promp. Parv. 347/2 Mv, of hawkys, falconarium. 1509Barclay Shyp of Folys (1874) I. 222 They make of the churche, for theyre hawkes a mewe. 1623Sir T. Stafford in Lismore Papers Ser. ii. (1888) III. 79 The faulcon your Lordship sent was so brused and ragged..[that I] haue put her into a mieu. 1678Ray Willughby's Ornith. 430 So leave them [sc. sparrow-hawks] in the Mew till they are clean mewed. 1783Burke Sp. East-India Bill Wks. IV. 67 A notorious robber and villain,..kept as a hawk in a mew, to fly upon this nation. 1820Scott Abbot iv, He chanced..to descend to the mew in which Sir Halbert Glendinning kept his hawks.
fig.1628Private Mem. Sir K. Digby (1827) 64, I beseech you give me leave..to please myself awhile with flying abroad before I be put into the mewe. 1635[Glapthorne] Lady Mother iv. i. in Bullen O. Pl. II. 175 Were my soule Drawn from this mew of flesh twould quickly streatch Like a swift Falcon her aspiring wings.
b. in mew (rarely in the mew): in process of moulting; also fig. in process of transformation.
1390Gower Conf. I. 326 As a bridd which were in Mue Withinne a buissh sche kepte hire clos. 1486[see mew v.1 1 a]. 1708T. Ward Eng. Ref. (1716) 1 When Old King Harry youthful grew, As Eagles do, or Hawks in Mew. 1813Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 202 Our present government was in the mew, passing from Confederation to Union.
2.
†a. A coop or cage in which animals, esp. fowls, were confined for fattening. Also without article in phr. in mew, cooped up. Obs.
b. Now dial. a breeding-cage.
c1386Chaucer Prol. 349 Ful many a fat partrich hadde he in Muwe. c1440Promp. Parv. 350/1 Mwe, or cowle (MS. K. mv), saginarium. 1556Withals Dict. (1568) 38/2 A coupe or mewe for capons or other birdes to be kepte in, auiarium. 1566W. Adlington Apuleius ix. xli. 96 She thrust him into a mew made with twigges [L. viminea cauea]. 1601Holland Pliny I. 297 A Barton and Mue to keepe foule. 1749Fielding Tom Jones iv. iv, I must take care of my partridge mew. 1861,1892[see Eng. Dial. Dict.].
¶c. Misused to render med.L. muta mute n.
1766Blackstone Comm. II. xxviii. 427 The king, according to the record vouched by sir Edward Coke, is entitled to six things; the bishop's best horse,..his cloak, or gown [etc.]: and, lastly, his muta canum, his mew or kennel of hounds.
3.
†a. phr. in mew: in hiding or confinement, cooped up. Obs.
c1350Will. Palerne 3336 But couwardli as caitifs couren [ȝe] here in meuwe. c1374Chaucer Troylus i. 381 To hiden his desir in muwe From every wight y-born. a1450Knt. de la Tour (1868) 85 The quene was gretly ashamed, whanne she saye she most be in mue. c1450Lydg. & Burgh Secrees 2063 Keep tonge in mewe. 1471J. Paston in P. Lett. III. 12, I wold fayne my gray horse wer kept in mewe for gnattys. c1530Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 503 The dolphin said:..it anoyeth me greatly thus long to be closed in mewe! 1594Spenser Amoretti lxxx, Give leave to me, in pleasant mew To sport my muse and sing my loves sweet praise. 1600Fairfax Tasso v. xliii, If my good seruice reape this recompence, To be clapt vp in close and secret mew.
†b. A place of confinement. Obs.
c1400Rom. Rose 4778 To escape out of his [Love's] mewe. 1526Skelton Magnyf. 35 Yet Lyberte hath ben lockyd vp and kept in the mew. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. v. 27 Captiv'd eternally in yron mewes And darksom dens. 1615R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 120 Her husband..kept her in a Mew. 1622J. Reynolds God's Revenge ii. vii. 94 Vnaccustomed to bee pent up in so strait and darke a mew.
c. A secret place, a place of concealment or retirement; a den. Sometimes without article in † to mew. Now rare.
c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 251 Skore that place [sc. the soul] from al goostly felthe..Thyn Hooly Goost close in that litil mwe. 1436Libel Eng. Policy in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 170 Oure enmyse..flede to mewe, they durste no more appere. 1601Weever Mirr. Mart. F ij, Some watchfull Poets secret mew. 1625W. Pemble Justification (1629) 83 An Anchorites Mue. 1855Browning Fra Lippo 47 I've been three weeks shut within my mew, A-painting for the great man, saints and saints. 1898T. Hardy Wessex Poems 109 To shun his view By her hallowed mew I went from the tombs among To the cirque of the Gladiators.
4. Comb. † mew-house = sense 1.
c1470Harding Chron. clxxxix. v, Maister of the Mew-house & his haukes fayre.
▪ III. mew, n.3
see mew int.
▪ IV. mew, v.1|mjuː|
Forms: 4 muwe, 4–7 mewe, 5 mwe, 6–7 (9) mue, 6– mew.
[a. F. muer to moult, also to shed horns (OF. also in wider sense, to change) = Pr., Sp., Pg. mudar, It. mutare to moult, change:—L. mūtāre to change, whence mutable, mutation.]
1. a. trans. Of a hawk: To moult, shed, or change (its feathers); also of other birds. Also in pass. with the bird as subject. Often in figurative context. Now only arch.
c1380Sir Ferumb. 1738 An .C. of gyrfacouns y asky to y-muwed ouer ȝere. 1486Bk. St. Albans b j, Iff an hawke be in mewe yt same sercell feder shall be the last feder that she will cast, and tyll that be cast, she is neuer mewed. 1606Drayton Odes, To Cupid 17 He [Cupid]..in the air hovers; Which when it him deweth, His feathers he meweth. a1613Overbury A Wife, etc. (1638) H iv b, Now she has mewed three coats, now shee growes weary [etc.]. Ibid., She mewes her pounces, at all these yeares she flies at fooles and kils too. 1616Surfl. & Markh. Country Farm 716 For how much the earlier bird she [sc. a nightingale] is, by so much will she become the more perfect,..because that comming..to mue her feathers, if she [etc.]. 1639T. de la Grey Compl. Horsem. 167 Foules..in the summer season mowting and mewing their feathers. a1682Sir T. Browne Tracts iv. (1683) 106 Considering..his [the Hoopebird's] latitancy, and mewing this handsome outside in the Winter; they [i.e. the old ægyptians] made it an Emblem [etc.]. 1869Browning Ring & Bk. ix. 1233 Proud that his dove which lay among the pots Hath mued those dingy feathers.
¶b. Peculiarly used by Milton.
The precise sense intended is difficult to determine: perhaps ‘to renew by the process of moulting’; some would render ‘exchanging her mighty youth for the still mightier strength of full age’.
1644Milton Areop. 34 Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant Nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep..: Methinks I see her as an Eagle muing her mighty youth, and kindling her undazl'd eyes at the full midday beam.
†c. transf. and fig. To shed or change (anything comparable to plumage, e.g. hair, clothes); to change (colour). Also in pass. Obs.
c1374Chaucer Troylus ii. 1209 (1258) With þat he gan hire humbly to saluwe With dredful chere and ofte his heweis muwe. 1614T. Tomkis Albumazar iii. iv. (1615) F 3, Stand forth transform'd Antonio fully mued From browne soare feathers of dull yeomanry To th' glorious bloome of gentry. 1620Quarles Jonah (1638) 42 Their nakednesse with sackcloth let them hide And mue the vestments of their silken pride. c1620Fletcher & Mass. Lit. Fr. Lawyer iii. ii, 'Tis true, I was a Lawyer, But I have mewd that coat, I hate a Lawyer. 1633Ford Broken H. ii. i, The King has mew'd All his gray beard, in stead of which is budded An⁓other of a pure Carnation colour. a1658Cleveland Gen. Poems, etc. (1677) 58 The Sun hath mew'd his Beams from off his Lamp.
causatively.c1620Fletcher & Mass. Double Marriage iii. ii, How he has mew'd your head, has rub'd the snow off, And run your beard into a peak of twenty.
d. absol. and intr. To moult. † Also transf. and fig. to change or lose one's covering; to assume a new aspect.
c1532G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 950/3 To mue as a hawke, muer. 1567Turberv. tr. Spagnuoli's Eclogues ii. C iij, Euerything doth mewe, And shiftes his rustie winter robe. 1613Fletcher, etc. Hon. Man's Fort. v. i, One only suit to his backe which now is mewing. 1616Surfl. & Markh. Country Farm 721 Those [finches] which are taken in the neast, doe mue within a moneth that they are put in [the cage]. 1725Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Mewing, Those..which mew about the End of July, do it with Success. 1828J. S. Sebright Hawking 62 Hawks must be fed very high, and kept very quiet when they mew.
†2. trans. Of a stag: To cast or shed (his horns). Also to mew his head. Obs.
c1410Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) ii, Þei [harts] mewe [MS. Douce meve] þer hornes. Ibid., Þenn þei meweþ hir heedes. Ibid. (MS. Bodley 546), And whanne þei haue meved [v.r. mwed] hure heedes. 1577[see 2 b]. 1674N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. (1677) 65 The time of Harts Mewing, or Casting the Head.
fig.1700Dryden Cinyras & Myrrha 320 Nine times the Moon had mew'd her horns.
b. intr.
1577Harrison England iii. iv. (1878) ii. 26 It is also much to be maruelled at, that whereas they [deer] do yeerelie mew and cast their horns: yet in fighting they neuer breake off where they doo grife or mew. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1824) I. 384 When they [deer] cast their heads, they are said to mew.
†3. In gen. sense: To change, transmute. Obs.
15..Helyas in Thoms Prose Rom. III. 76 They found but vi. children, to whome they did nothing but tooke away theyr chaines that was about their neckes wherby incontinent thei were mued in white swannes.
▪ V. mew, v.2|mjuː|
Forms: 5–7 mewe, 5–8 mue, 6– mew.
[f. mew n.2]
1. trans. To put a hawk in a ‘mew’, or cage, at moulting time; to keep up. to mew at large, at the stock or stone: see quot. 1611.
a1533Ld. Berners Huon lii. 177, I can mew a sparhawke. 1575Turberv. Falconrie 173 The place wherin you shoulde mew a hawke at the stocke should be a lowe parler or chamber upon the grounde. 1611Markham Country Contentm. i. viii. (1615) 95–6 Mewing at the stone or stocke... If you mewe at the stocke, you shal haue a broad Table..on which you must place..a free-stone or blocke of two foote hie, to which you shal fasten your hawke... If you mewe your hawke at large you shall put her loose into the mewe. c1640J. Smyth Lives Berkeleys (1883) II. 285 Merlins, which sometimes she mewed in her own chamber. 1828J. S. Sebright Hawking 62 They [hawks] are sometimes kept loose in a room; but it is, in my opinion, much better to mew them on perches or on blocks. Ibid. 63 As it is difficult to procure Icelanders and gyrfalcons, these valuable birds are well worth mewing.
†2. To coop or shut up (poultry, etc.) in a coop for fattening. Obs. rare.
c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 169 Fat Capons up mewed to the fulle. 1522Skelton Why not to Court? 219 He eateth capons stewed, Fesaunt and partriche mewed. 1639Horn & Rob. Gate Lang. xiv. §147 Poultry shut up [marg. Coopt or mued up in a mue].
b. transf.
1594Shakes. Rich. III, i. i. 132 More pitty, that the Eagles should be mew'd, Whiles Kites and Buzards play at liberty.
3. To shut up, confine, enclose; to hide, conceal.
a1450Knt. de la Tour (1868) 85 Euery woman that disobeyed..her husbonde..shulde be mued alle a year. 1577–87Stanyhurst in Holinshed I. Ded. 8 The little paine I tooke therein was not so secretlie mewed within my closet, but [etc.]. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. iii. 34 The bush..In which vaine Braggadocchio was mewd. a1625Fletcher Hum. Lieut. iv. iv, They keep me mew'd up here as they mew mad folkes. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 109 [He] mewes himselfe, his Wife, two sonnes and ten thousand men in this..Castle. 1693Dryden Juvenal i. 186 Close mew'd in their Sedans, for fear of air. 1719D'Urfey Pills (1872) I. 250 I'm mew'd in a smoky house. 1810Scott Lady of L. v. vi, The young King mew'd in Stirling tower, Was stranger to respect and power. 1882‘Ouida’ Maremma I. 72 There, galley-slaves are mewed in a bitter company.
fig.1817Shelley Rev. Islam ii. xxxvi, The servitude In which the half of humankind were mewed Victims of lust.
b. to mew up, in the same sense. (Now more usual.)
1581G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. (1586) 8 You cannot goe to visite the sicke..if you remaine alwaies mewed vp. 1617Hales Gold. Rem. i. (1673) 11 Not to suffer your labours to be copst and mued up within the poverty of some pretended method. 1628Prynne Cens. Cozens 39 Those Munkes and Nunnes, which..are mued vp in Forraine Cells and Cloisters. 1703Farquhar Inconstant ii. i, What does the old Fellow mean by mewing me up here with a couple of green girls? 1791–1823D'Israeli Cur. Lit. (1858) I. 8 Heinsius was mewed up in the library of Leyden all the year long. 1821Scott Kenilw. xxix, Amy was no longer mewed up in a distant and solitary retreat. 1880Mrs. J. H. Riddell Myst. Pal. Gard. xxvi, I have been kept mewed up, seeing nothing, knowing no one, going nowhere.
refl.1581B. Rich Farew. (Shaks. Soc.) 95 What moves thy mynde to mewe thee up so close. 1605Hist. Stukeley E iij, We make them proud by mewing vp our selues In walled towns. 1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman D'Alf. (1623) 139 [He] mewes himselfe up in a corner and dares not be seene. 1669Penn No Cross i. v. §12 If every Body..should mew himself up within Four Walls. 1695Congreve Love for L. i. i, 'Slife, Sir, what do you mean, to mew your self up hear with Three or Four musty Books? 1736Ainsworth Lat. Dict., To mew up one's self from the world, ab hominum consortio secedere.
†4. ? To restrain (speech, the tongue). Obs.
c1530Interl. Beauty & Gd. Prop. Women A iij b, It is a wonder to se theyre dyssemblyng,..Theyre folyshnes, theyre Ianglyng not mewde. 1594Lyly Moth. Bombie ii. i. 113 Mew thy tongue, or weele cut it out.
▪ VI. mew, v.3|mjuː|
[Echoic: see mew int. Cf. maw, miaouw vbs.]
intr. Of a cat (occas. of other animals): To utter the sound represented by ‘mew’. Also of sea-birds.
c1325[see mewt v.]. 14..Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 571/23 Catello, to mewe. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 100, I neuer herd thy catte once mew. 1605Shakes. Macb. iv. i. i. 1711Acc. Sev. Late Voy. II. 111 Of the Sea-dogs... Their little or young ones mew like Cats. 1747Gray Death Cat 32 Eight times emerging from the flood She mew'd to ev'ry wat'ry God, Some speedy aid to send. 1843Marryat M. Violet xiii, The cub [of a bear]..hurt itself, and mewed. 1877L. Morris Epic Hades ii. 102 The sea birds mewed Around me. 1884Pae Eustace 129 The cat mews very little in the Hector. 1902R. W. Chambers Maids of Paradise ix. 167, I heard the white-winged gulls mewing.
b. transf. Of a person: To utter this sound derisively. Cf. mew int. 2.
1606Dekker Sev. Deadly Sins To Rdr. (Arb.) 3 You stand somtimes at a Stationers stal, looking scuruily (like Mules champing vpon Thistles) on the face of a new Booke bee it neuer so worthy: and goe (as il fauouredly) mewing away. 1611Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girl Prol. 6 Each one comes And brings a play in's head with him; vp he summes What he would of a Roaring Girle haue writ; If that he findes not here, he mewes at it.
c. trans. To express by mewing.
1900F. G. Aflalo in Cornh. Mag. Nov. 628 The gulls were still mewing their plaintive dirge over the fishy harbour.
▪ VII. mew, int. and n.3|mjuː|
[Echoic: cf. miaow.]
1. int. Used to represent the cry of a cat. Also n. as a name for this sound.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. i. 129, I had rather be a Kitten, and cry mew, Then [etc.]. 1718F. Hutchinson Witchcraft 37 Whereupon the Cat whin'd and cried Mew. 1791Cowper Retired Cat 88 A long and melancholy mew,..Consoled him. 1851Borrow Lavengro xcix, The silent mew of my mother's sandy-red cat.
†2. Used as a derisive exclamation. Obs.
1606Day Ile of Guls Prol. (1881) 7 The rest thinking it in dislike of the play,..cry ‘Mew! by Jesus, vilde!’ Ibid. iv. iv. 91 Let their desarts be crowned with mewes and hisses. 1607Dekker & Webster Northward Ho i. ii. Dekker's Plays 1873 III. 11 Pox a your gutts, your kidneys; mew: hang yee, rooke. 1633Ford Love's Sacr. i. ii, And how does my owne Julia, mew vpon this sadnesse? What's the matter you are melancholly?
▪ VIII. mew
variant of maugh.
c1598D. Ferguson Sc. Prov. (1785) 24 Make na twa mews of ae daughter.
▪ IX. mew
see meu; obs. f. move v.; obs. and dial. pa. tense of mow v.1; obs. var. muid. |