Etymology: < the Germanic base of West Frisian meau , mieu , miuw , Middle Dutch mēwe (Dutch meeuw ), Middle Low German meve ( > early modern German mew , German Möwe ), Old Icelandic már , mór (plural mávar , máfar ; Icelandic már : other North Germanic languages have only suffixed forms). Further etymology uncertain and disputed. Compare maw n.³, mow n.³The Germanic forms vary in gender and declension: the Old English noun is a masculine i-stem, while the Middle Dutch and Middle Low German forms show a feminine ō-stem, and Old Icelandic a masculine a-stem.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman mue, muwe and Middle French mue act of shedding feathers, cage for moulting bird, prison (all 12th cent. in Old French), cage in which poultry are put for fattening (1465 in Middle French) < muer mew v.² Compare Old Occitan muda (c1220), Italian muda (late 13th cent.), Spanish muda (late 13th cent.), Portuguese muda (15th cent.), and post-classical Latin muta (frequently from a1150 to 1333 in British sources), mua, muia (both late 12th cent. in British sources).In phrase in mew (see sense 1a) after Middle French en mue confined to a cage while moulting, in confinement (late 12th cent. in Old French). In sense 2c used to render post-classical Latin muta mute n.¹ by confusion with the present word; for similar confusion of the two words compare mute n.¹ 3.

Etymology: < mew int.

Etymology: Imitative. Compare meow v., mewl v., miaul v., mewt v., and also maw v.E. J. Dobson Eng. Pronunc. 1500–1700 (ed. 2, 1968) II. §244 notes that this word is among those recorded by orthoepists as showing the reflex of a Middle English ęu diphthong. Analysis of the form meaw (and meawe ) in 17th-cent. sources is difficult: in some sources, a monosyllabic pronunciation is apparently intended, and hence such examples may be taken as showing the present word; in some glossaries, however, mew and meaw are entered separately, the latter sometimes being linked with French miauler , suggesting that this spelling can also represent meow v.; compare also mewl v. and miaul v. Considerable variation is found in modern regional use, with a wide variety of responses being recorded in Surv. Eng. Dial. Compare also the isolated Middle English form mouw (see quot. a1325 at sense 1).

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman muer, muwer and Middle French muer to moult (c1100 in Old French; c1050 as muder in general sense ‘to change, modify’), to cause to moult (13th cent.), to shed antlers (1394) < classical Latin mūtāre mutate v. (5th cent. in sense ‘to moult’); compare post-classical Latin muare to moult (1255, 1535 in British sources; < Anglo-Norman). Compare Old Occitan mudar to change (12th cent.), to moult (c1220), Spanish mudar to change (1207), to moult (probably late 13th cent.), Italian mutare to change (1219), to moult, Portuguese mudar to give up (1262), to change, to moult.

Etymology: < mew n.²

Etymology: < mew v.¹