pewn.1
/pjuː/, U.S. /pju/ 1.
a. In a church: a place where seating, often enclosed, is reserved for the use of a particular (often distinguished) worshipper or group of worshippers; (more generally) any enclosure or compartment in which worshippers may be seated. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > position or situation > [noun] > appointed to or usually occupied by a person or thing
steadc888
seatc1275
placea1375
pewc1400
roomc1450
quarterc1550
instalment1589
tenement1592
berth1816
kennel1853
lieua1859
society > faith > artefacts > furniture > seat > pew > [noun] > private
pulpitc1390
closetc1400
pewc1400
family pew1747
pew bench1850
parlour pew1896
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. vii. 144 (MED) Among wyues and wodewes ich am ywoned sitte Yparroked in puwes.
1427–8 in H. Littlehales Medieval Rec. London City Church (1905) 67 (MED) Also payd for certeyne pavynge & mevynge of pewes in the cherche, vij s. ix d.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll.) 907 He founde a preste redy at the awter, and on the ryght syde he saw a pew closed with iron.
a1475 J. Russell Bk. Nurture (Harl. 4011) in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 179 Prynce or Prelate..or any oþer potestate, or he entur in to þe churche, be it erly or late, perceue all þynge for his pewe þat it be made preparate, boþe cosshyn, carpet, & curteyn, bedes & boke, forgete not that.
1518 in H. J. F. Swayne Churchwardens' Accts. Sarum (1896) 59 For the pewys thys yere xs. vd.
1540 in T. Wright Churchwardens' Accts. Ludlow (1869) 6 Ffor whiche pewe the seide baylifes have awardede that the seide Richarde Langforde shalle content and paye to the Churche wardeyns..the some of vis. viijd.
1572 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories N. Counties Eng. (1835) I. 369 My bodye to be buried wthin the parishe churche of thorneton in the strett in the closyd or pew wherin I vse to sitt.
1625 F. Bacon Apophthegmes 116 Sir Thomas Moore..did vse, at Masse, to sit in the Chancell; and his Ladie in a Pew. And because the Pew stood out of sight, his Gentleman-Vsher..came to the Ladies Pew, and said; Madam, my Lo. is gone.
1659 J. Milton Considerations touching Hirelings 85 His sheep oft-times sit the while to as little purpose of benefiting as the sheep in thir pues at Smithfield.
1664 S. Pepys Diary 28 Feb. (1971) V. 67 The Bishop of London, who sat there in a pew made a-purpose for him by the pulpitt.
1710 E. Ward Nuptial Dialogues & Deb. I. xiv. 183 Th'am'rous Heathen comes to Church to view His female Goddess dizen'd in her Pew.
1766 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. II. xxviii. 429 Pews in the church..may descend by custom immemorial (without any ecclesiastical concurrence) from the ancestor to the heir.
1842 F. E. Paget Milford Malvoisin 211 Asking your consent to the removal of your pew, and the substitution of an open sitting in its place.
1871 ‘G. Eliot’ Middlemarch (1872) I. xii. 189 The Waules and Powderells all sitting in the same pew for generations, and the Featherstone pew next to them.
1905 H. Littlehales Medieval Rec. London City Church i. Introd. Note 22 As early as 1496 it was customary for certain parishioners to have pews allocated to them... There were special pews for the poor people,..pews for men,..and for women.
1935 G. Santayana Last Puritan i. iii. 40 In those high-walled pews, with their locked doors, every worshipper might pray in secret, as if in his own closet.
1999 Church Times 16 Apr. 18/2 We meet the curé's housekeeper, and the coq de village churchwarden, crowned with an ample wig and swelling proudly in his pew.
b. A bench with a back, of a type commonly placed in rows in the main part of a church or chapel to seat the congregation.This type of seating has generally superseded the enclosed type described at sense 1a, but in the earlier quots. it is often unclear which is meant.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > furniture > seat > pew > [noun]
stool1570
pew1631
corner-pew1663
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 573 Dead bodies of the Nobilitie whose funerall trophies are wasted with deuouring time and..seates or Pewes for the Townesmen, made ouer their honorable remaines.
1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 139 You may take away the Pewes, where all are Pulpitarians.
1691 Weesils i. 5 The Neighboring Wives already slight me too, Justle to the Wall, and take the Upper Pew.
1707 G. Farquhar Beaux Stratagem ii. 15 The Verger..Inducts me into the best Pue in the Church.
1788 W. Marshall Provincialisms E. Yorks. in Rural Econ. Yorks. II. 355 Stall, a doorless pew of a church.
1843 J. S. Robb Streaks Squatter Life 99 Jake Simons, sittin' close bang up agin Sofy, in the same pew with her daddy!
1868 C. Dickens Let. 18 Jan. (2002) XII. 19 It was very odd to see the pews crammed full of people.
1925 W. Faulkner Let. 13 Apr. in Thinking of Home (1992) 199 People in Catholic churches sit in their pews and whenever they want to pray, they kneel whether anyone else wants to or not.
1982 L. Chamberlain Russian Food & Cookery (1983) 247 The congregation..always stand or kneel (there are no pews in an Orthodox church).
2001 L. Voss To be Someone 132 My neighbour had to nudge me awake, and I could see Margie shooting daggers at me from her front-row pew.
c. The place of the congregation in a church or chapel. Contrasted with pulpit, as the place of the priest, preacher, etc. Hence: (with the and singular or plural agreement) the people who occupy pews collectively; the congregation of a church; the lay people as opposed to the clergy. Cf. pulpit n. 4a.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > laity > congregation > [noun]
lathingc897
church folka1200
parishc1300
congregation1526
meeting1593
assemblya1616
society1738
pew1882
1665 R. Boyle Occas. Refl. iii. vi. sig. R8 As if all that belongs to Ministers, and their Flocks, could be perform'd in the Pulpit, and the Pew.
a1795 S. Bishop in Poet. Wks. (1796) II. 320 Thus all their regular order kept, In pulpit and in pew; And so he preach'd, and so they slept.
1882 J. Parker Apostolic Life I. 74 How can we preach to a people unprepared to hear?—A prepared pulpit should be balanced by a prepared pew.
1901 Contemp. Rev. Mar. 323 As is the pew, so is the pulpit.
1912 E. M. Bounds Power through Prayer (ed. 4) xx Praying apostles will beget praying saints. A praying pulpit will beget praying pews.
2000 Church Times 22 Sept. 7/3 Ordaining them deacons will not deracinate them from the men and women in the pew.
2. A raised standing-place or desk in a church or chapel, to enable a preacher, reader, etc., to be seen and heard by the congregation. Frequently with modifying word, as minister's pew, praying pew, reader's pew, pew for penance, etc. Now only in reading pew (see reading pew n. at reading n.1 Compounds 3).shriving pew: see shriving pew n. at shriving n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > furniture > seat > [noun] > preacher's
pew1479
reading pew1636
jube1725
rising seat1851
1479 in S. Tymms Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmunds (1850) 50 My body to be beryed in the pariche cherche of Euston be for the chaunsell dore by syde the pue.
1529 T. More Dialogue Heresyes i, in Wks. (1557) 127 Vpon ye sondaye at high masse time..for fulfillinge of hys penance, vp was the pore soule set in a pew, that ye peple might wonder on him and hyre [sic] what he sayd.
1551 J. Bale Actes Eng. Votaryes: 2nd Pt. f. xxxiv To laye stones of great wayghte vpon the roufe beames of the temple ryght ouer hys prayenge pewe, and to lete them fall vpon hym to hys vtter destruccyon.
1568 Churchwardens' Accts. St. Peter, Chepe in A. C. Heales Hist. Pews (1872) 38 Paid for ii matts for the pewe wherein Mr Parson saithe the service.
1640 T. Fuller Joseph's Coat 170 Passe from the Font to the Ministers Pue.
1644 J. Maxwell Answer to Worthy Gentleman 8 Two alwaies speak, the first from the Readers Desk or Pew; the other, in some other place distant from him.
1692 G. Burnet Sarum Visit. Art. in A. C. Heales Hist. Pews (1872) I. 39 Have you in your said Church or Chappel a convenient seat or Pew for your minister to read Divine Service in?
1881 A. P. Stanley Christian Inst. iii. 55 In England the huge reading-desk or ‘pew’ long supplied the place of the old ambo.
1962 J. F. White Cambridge Movement iv. 99 The westernmost stall on the south side formed a reading pew.
3. † b. figurative. An allotted place. Obsolete.
a. A raised seat or bench for people sitting in an official capacity; a rostrum used by public speakers, academic disputants, etc.; a stand for people doing business in a public place; a box in a theatre. In later use figurative with sense overlapping with sense 1. rare after 17th cent.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > speech-making > [noun] > platform or stand
pulpita1387
pew1558
rostrum1652
stump1775
platform1817
stand1829
soap-box1907
paepae1937
society > law > administration of justice > judicial body, assembly, or court > place where court is held > [noun] > seat of judgement
doom-settlec1000
doom-stoola1250
benchc1300
bink?a1400
bankc1450
judgement seat1526
tribunala1530
justice seat1548
pew1558
chair1629
cushion1656
banc1689
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > a theatre > auditorium > [noun] > box or compartment
pew1558
lord's room1592
box1609
private boxa1640
side-box1676
balcony1718
lodge1730
green box1732
stage box1740
loge1768
opera box1789
dress box1795
property box1809
omnibus1840
omnibus box1842
baignoire1873
1558 T. Phaer tr. Virgil Seuen First Bks. Eneidos vii. sig. T.j This was both minster, court and hall, Here stoode theyr offryng pewes, and many a slaughter downe did fall [Virgil 7. 175 Hoc illis curia templum, Hæ sacris sedes epulis].
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. iii. lxiv. 132 Duillius then..caused the Consuls to be called into their owne pues and seates.
1629 J. Wadsworth Eng. Spanish Pilgrime iii. 15 Six other of their companions disputing three against three in two pewes one ouerthwart the other.
c1660 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1644 (1955) II. 98 The other side is full of pewes for the Clearkes of the Advocates, which (as ours at Westminster) swarme here [i.e. to the Palais de Justice, Paris].
1678 S. Butler Hudibras: Third Pt. iii. iii. 230 To this brave Man, the Knight repairs For Counsel, in his Law-affairs, And found him mounted, in his Pew.
1894 G. A. Sala London up to Date 80 In the seventeenth century..there were shops inside the Hall [sc. Westminster Hall] itself; and scriveners had their desks, and usurers their ‘pews’.
1904 M. Sinclair Divine Fire 18 On the right of the arch was the mahogany pew of the cashier.
ΚΠ
1607 T. Dekker Knights Conjuring sig. K3 The very Pallace wher Happines her selfe maintaines her Court... Women!..scarce one amongst fiue hundred has her pewe there.
1636 W. Davenant Witts iii. i. sig. F2v Why is there never a Pue there (Luce) but for Your coughing Aunt, and you?
1673 Char. Quack-astrologer sig. B3v And placing the Planets in their respectiue Pues.
4. colloquial (originally British). A seat. Chiefly in friendly invitations to be seated, esp. in take a pew.
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the world > space > relative position > posture > action or fact of sitting > be sitting or seated [verb (intransitive)] > sit down
sitOE
to sit adownc1275
to sit downc1300
to make one's seata1400
to set adowna1400
to set downc1400
seat1596
pitch1796
roost1816
take a pew1898
1898 H. Belloc Mod. Traveller i. 5 Be seated; take a pew.
1903 P. G. Wodehouse Prefect's Uncle xvi. 230 The genial ‘take a pew’ of one's equal inspires confidence.
1926 I. Mackay Blencarrow xiii. 116 ‘Have a pew?’ he offered, making himself as small as possible on the red plush car seat.
1958 B. Hamilton Too Much of Water xi. 232 Have the pew. I'll squat on the bed.
1982 F. Pohl Starburst iii. 13 There was no ‘Come on, Dieter, boy, pull up a pew,’ from the President.
2001 A. Taylor Death's Own Door (2002) xxvii. 198 Take a pew, Inspector.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive.† pew-woman n. Obsolete
pew bench n.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > furniture > seat > pew > [noun] > private
pulpitc1390
closetc1400
pewc1400
family pew1747
pew bench1850
parlour pew1896
1850 D. G. Mitchell Reveries of Bachelor 243 I was on my own pew bench.
1898 Westm. Gaz. 4 June 4/2 The grave is nearly covered by a pew bench.
1994 Antique Collector June 79/1 Panelled rooms..filled with great oak tables, pew benches and stately chairs that would have made a baron feel at home.
pew cushion n.
ΚΠ
1840 C. Mathews Politicians iv. v. 84 They all answered, like a corporation of deacons on a grant for new pew-cushions.
1918 W. M. Kirkland Joys of being Woman xxi. 245 I learned rigidity of muscle in the sanctuary, where I sat holding immobile on the pew cushion legs too short to crook.
1992 Independent 3 Aug. 13/1 I remember how the radiators popped and cracked in the winter, the dark, cool wood in the summer, the heavy carpets and the huge pew cushions.
pew desk n.
ΚΠ
1700 in J. Stuart Extracts Council Reg. Aberdeen (1872) II. 326 Befor the pew dask..possest by John Johnston.
1862 H. Marryat One Year in Sweden II. 260 Some idle boy had carved his initials on the pew-desk.
1969 Times 1 Nov. (Sat. Review section) p. v/3 His jaw came in contact with the pew desk and his false teeth gave an ominous lurch.
pew door n.
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society > faith > artefacts > furniture > seat > pew > [noun] > door of
pew door1491
1491–2 in H. Littlehales Medieval Rec. London City Church (1905) 173 For a peyre of henges for the pewe dore.
1520 Will G. Gough in Surrey Archæol. Jrnl. 184 My body to be buried in erth at my pew dore within our Lady Chapell of my parish Church.
1667 S. Pepys Diary 15 Sept. (1974) VIII. 437 I did step back and clapped my breech to our pew-door, that she might be forced to shove me to come in.
1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison VI. xxiii. 122 When the sermon was ended, Mr. Greville held the pew-door ready opened, to attend our movements.
1872 ‘G. Eliot’ Middlemarch III. xlvii. 81 Will looked straight at Mr Casaubon. But that gentleman's eyes were on the button of the pew-door.
1993 Jrnl. Interdisciplinary Hist. 23 566 She decided that she liked the original location and climbed over a locked four-foot pew door to regain it.
pew-end n.
ΚΠ
1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Parish Churches 34 (note) Fantastically-shaped pew-ends.
1989 R. Garfitt Given Ground 12 A carved pew-end hangs as a door, latched with a nail.
2000 Hist. Today Aug. 39/1 (advt.) A cloth-finisher surrounded by the tools of his trade, including a comb, shears, teazle-frame and burling iron. From a pew-end in Spaxton church, Somerset.
pew seat n.
ΚΠ
1836 N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 358 We must not forget one remarkable contrivance in our early churches, the arrangement of the pew seats.
1973 T. Pynchon Gravity's Rainbow i. 80 Everyone for years has occupied his own unique pew-seat.
1994 Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 102 294 Pew seats toward the front had a similar advantage to box seats at the opera.
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society > faith > church government > laity > lay functionaries > pew-opener > [noun]
pew-keeper1663
pew-opener1768
pew-woman1810
pew-shutter1886
1810 S. Green Reformist II. 17 He..would have given the pew-woman a shilling to have let him into a pew.
1854 W. M. Thackeray Newcomes (1855) II. vi. 57 He [sc. Clive] attended punctually on the next Sunday, and in the Incumbent's pew, whither the pew woman conducted him, sate Mr. Sherrick in great gravity.
b. Objective.† pew-shutter n. Obsolete
pew holder n.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > [noun] > worshipper > having seat in church
pew renter1804
sitter1819
pew holder1822
society > faith > artefacts > furniture > seat > pew > [noun] > one who owns or pays rent for
pew renter1804
pew holder1822
1822 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 29 June 3/1 The candidates for the trusteeship were elected, by receiving the signatures of all the pewholders belonging to said church.
1957 M. McCarthy Memories Catholic Girlhood 21 The old Priest..declined to comply with her wishes and, ignoring his pewholder's angry interjections, spoke to me.
1990 Amer. Hist. Rev. 95 259/1 Carey shows that the lay trustees came from the propertied, prosperous middle class and represented a majority only of the pew holders and others who contributed enough to be entitled to vote.
pew-keeper n.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > laity > lay functionaries > pew-opener > [noun]
pew-keeper1663
pew-opener1768
pew-woman1810
pew-shutter1886
1663 G. Mackenzie Religio Stoici 152 As love to live like Pewkeepers in the house of God, busied in seating others.
1741 S. Richardson Pamela III. xxxii. 235 Where..it might be more likely to be seen by the Pew-keepers.
1860 J. W. S. Mitchell Hist. Freemasonry xviii. 233 There is no stemming the tide of profit, and the advantage of pew keepers.
1989 Econ. Hist. Rev. 42 341 Miscellaneous services includes..sextoness, pewkeeper, or vestrywoman.
pew-opener n.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > laity > lay functionaries > pew-opener > [noun]
pew-keeper1663
pew-opener1768
pew-woman1810
pew-shutter1886
1768 J. Trusler Hogarth Moralized 30 They are..opposed by the pew-opener.
1853 ‘C. Bede’ Adventures Mr. Verdant Green vi. 51 Seeing no beadle, or pew-opener..to direct him to a place.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xii. [Cyclops] 308 A cousin of his old fellow's was pew opener to the pope.
1966 H. Davies New London Spy (1967) 66 What a joy it was to sit in a box pew while the gallery clock ticked and to hear the rolling 17th century English of the Prayer Book alone with the verger and the pew-opener.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > laity > lay functionaries > pew-opener > [noun]
pew-keeper1663
pew-opener1768
pew-woman1810
pew-shutter1886
1886 J. Ruskin Præterita I. ix. 282 There was no beadle to lock me out of them [sc. churches], or pew-shutter to shut me in.
C2. † pew-dish n. Obsolete a dish passed or placed among the pews in a church or chapel (in quot. 1654 used depreciatively of the font in a Presbyterian church).Apparently an isolated use.† pew gallery n. Obsolete a gallery of pews in a church or chapel.
pew chair n. a chair forming part of the seating for the congregation in a church or chapel; spec. a seat added to the end of a pew (see quot. 1875).
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society > faith > artefacts > furniture > seat > pew > [noun] > end of > chair fixed to
pew chair1875
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 1676/2 Pew-chair, a seat affixed to the end of a pew so as to occupy a part of the aisle when seats in excess of the pew accommodation are required.
2000 Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, Florida) (Nexis) 23 Sept. p1 A multiple-purpose building with special pew chairs that can be moved and stacked to make room for banquets.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > furniture > holy water stoup > [noun] > portable
pew-dish1654
1654 T. Gataker Disc. Apol. 67 Pleading for the setled and immoveable Font.., which the Presbyterians, he saith, have brought to a moveable and unsettled Pue-dish.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > furniture > seat > pew > [noun] > gallery of
pew gallery1848
1848 B. Webb Sketches Continental Ecclesiol. 173 There was a kind of pew-gallery on each side of the chancel.
1866 W. E. Gladstone Diary 4 Feb. (1978) VI. 416 Any ratepayer, refusing to pay Church Rate, shall be disabled..from holding any pew gallery or seat.
pew group n. Ceramics a representation of people seated on a high-backed bench, usually in salt-glazed stoneware.
ΚΠ
1906 G. W. Rhead & F. A. Rhead Staffs. Pots xiv. 170 The British Museum ‘pew group’..is one of four known pieces of the kind, all evidently by the same hand.
1942 Burlington Mag. Oct. 260/1 Most dangerous are the increasingly skilful fakes of Astbury and Whieldon figures, first betrayed by the marks of Wedgwood on a pew group and Ralph Wood on a figure of similar origin.
2003 Times Educ. Suppl. (Nexis) 14 Feb. 15 Look at ceramic Pew Groups and produce clay models of seated loving couples.
pew mate n. a fellow occupant of a pew (also figurative); cf. pew-fellow n.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > [noun] > worshipper > having seat in church > fellow
pew-fellow1533
pew mate1567
1567 G. Fenton tr. M. Bandello Certaine Tragicall Disc. f. 65 Yet ought they (I saye) be so confirmed in theyr vnlawfull affection towarde their second pewmate, that [etc.].
1622 G. Markham & W. Sampson Herod & Antipater i. sig. D3 Letchery and Murder are Pue-mates.
1857 Harper's Mag. Dec. 70/1 Service over, Mehitable shook hands with my demure pew-mate, whom she called Abby.
2002 Chicago Daily Herald (Nexis) 25 Mar. (News section) 13 They'll be sprinkled with holy water and offer a handshake of peace to their pew mates.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
pewn.2
/pjuː/, U.S. /pju/, Scottish English /pju/ Scottish and English regional (northern).† 1. The thin cry of a bird, esp. of the kite. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > sound or bird defined by > [noun] > cry or call > thin or shrill
pew?a1500
yelping1593
pipe1721
whistle1784
queek1786
peek1834
pipe note1854
wheep1860
the world > animals > birds > order Falconiformes (falcons, etc.) > family Accipitridae (hawks, etc.) > [noun] > kites > genus Milvus (kite) > cry of
pew?a1500
a1500 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Fables: Paddock & Mouse l. 2901 in Poems (1981) 107 The gled..pyipand with lowd with mony pew.
a1522 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid (1959) vii. Prol. 125 The soir gled quhislis loud wyth mony ane pew.
1554 D. Lindsay Dialog Experience & Courteour 1451 in Wks. (1931) I. 241 Byrdis, with mony pietuous pew Afferitlye in the air thay flew.
2.
a. A breath; the stream of air produced by exhalation; the slight sound of this. Earliest and frequently in to play pew: to draw breath, to be alive; to stir; to have an effect; to offer resistance; (frequently in negative contexts) to have the slightest effect; to compete with. Cf. paw n.2 Sc. National Dict. (1968) records this sense as still in use in Shetland in 1965.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > respiratory organs > breathing > exhalation > [noun]
pufflOE
fnastinga1382
pufta1425
blasting1535
outbreathing1574
efflation1578
expiration1603
perspiration1611
expiring1661
flatus1692
exhalation1742
utterance1844
poof1864
pew1932
1728 A. Ramsay Last Speech Miser in Poems II. 103 He never mair play'd pew.
1808 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. (at cited word) He canna play pew, is phrase still used to denote a great degree of inability, or incapacity for any business..; also, He ne'er played pew, he did not make the slightest exertion.
1819 W. Scott Bride of Lammermoor x, in Tales of my Landlord 3rd Ser. II. 248 I couldna hae plaid pew upon a dry humlock.
1822 J. Galt Sir Andrew Wylie II. xiv. 134 The genie of Aladdin's lamp could not play peu to you.
1836 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Jan. 31 I could see a lord's living that would not play pue to an Edinburgh writer, buying land with a wadset.
1894 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words at Play-pa Play-pew, to offer resistance.
1932 A. Horsbøl tr. J. Jakobsen Etymol. Dict. Norn Lang. in Shetland II. 657/2 Der'r no..a pju in him, he is quite exhausted.
b. A puff of smoke; a breath of wind; a ripple of water; (hence, more generally) the merest amount of anything, a trace of. Sc. National Dict. (1968) records this sense as still in use in Shetland and Kirkcudbrightshire in 1965.
ΚΠ
1824 J. Mactaggart Sc. Gallovidian Encycl. 389 There's no a pue o' reek in a' the house.
a1891 W. A. Grant in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1903) IV. 479/2 [Shetland] Not a pew of sea.
1895 S. R. Crockett Men of Moss-hags xliv. 312 With a pew of blue smoke, blowing from its chimney.
1912 D. McNaught Kilmaurs Parish & Burgh xxvi. 298 Hue or pew, a small quantity.
1925 Trans. Dumfries & Galloway Nat. Hist. & Antiquarian Soc. 13 35 It's very still, there's no' a pue o' wun'.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
pewn.3
/pjuː/, U.S. /pju/, Canadian English /pjuː/ Chiefly Newfoundland.
A long-handled pointed implement for moving fish from the boat to the wharf or stage.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > other fishing equipment > [noun] > prongs or hooks for landing fish
grab-hook1608
gaff1656
weir-hook1688
pew1765
click-hookc1810
picaroon1837
gaff-hook1844
pew-gaffa1884
fish-gaff1887
snigger1901
1765 G. Williams Acct. Island Newfoundland 19 Pewes and Gafts.
1836 E. Wix Six Months of Newfoundland Missionary's Jrnl. 22 A large species of fish..had been killed here last summer, by a girl with a ‘pew’, or fork used for throwing fish from the boats on the ‘stages’.
1861 L. De Boilieu Recoll. Labrador Life 29 The Fish are not taken out [of the seine] by hand, but by an instrument called ‘a pew’, which is a prong with one point.
1883 Great Internat. Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 197 Fish forks and pews used in storing and handling the catch.
1977 Evening Telegram (Newfoundland) 10 Nov. 6 But, mostly [the fishermen] use what is called a ‘pew’ which has only one prong.
1991 G. Y. Blyth Salmon Canneries 37 Unloaders of the era stood knee-deep in the salmon and pitched them up onto the dock, one-by-one, with a one-tined fork on a long handle called a peugh.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
pewv.1
/pjuː/, U.S. /pju/, Scottish English /pju/ Chiefly Scottish.† 1. intransitive. Of a bird, esp. a kite: to cry in a plaintive manner. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > sound or bird defined by > [verb (intransitive)] > cry or call
crowc1000
galec1275
pewa1425
call1486
hoota1500
a1425 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (Pierpont Morgan) f. 156v When he [sc. the kite] hungreþ, he secheþ his mete pewynge [a1398 BL Add. pewlynge] with voyce of pleynynge & of mone.
c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) vi. 31 The chekyns began to peu, quhen the gled quhissillit.
1559 D. Lindsay Test. Papyngo 698 in Wks. (1931) I. 77 We sall gar cheknis cheip, and geaslyngis pew.
2. Scottish.
a. intransitive. Of smoke, vapour, etc.; to stream or puff out; to rise in the air like exhaled breath. Sc. National Dict. (1968) records this sense as still in use in Kirkcudbrightshire in 1965.
ΚΠ
1824 J. Mactaggart Sc. Gallovidian Encycl. 389 The reek's pueing up... Whar comes the reek pueing frae?
1911 S. R. Crockett Rose of Wilderness xxii Its aromatic fumes..would ‘pew’ out sweetly from the old kitchen hearth.
b. intransitive. To breathe. Sc. National Dict. (1968) records this sense as still in use in Shetland in 1965.
ΚΠ
1912 J. Jakobsen Etymol. Ordbog Norrøne Sprog Shetland at Pju He never pjud ony mair.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
pewv.2
/pjuː/, U.S. /pju/ Now rare.† 2. transitive. To provide or fit out (a church, etc.) with pews. Obsolete.
1. transitive. To shut up in or as in a pew. rare except in 19th cent.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > enclosing or enclosure > enclosing or confining > enclose or confine [verb (transitive)] > as in specific place
box1551
encagea1586
bung1592
cell1592
oven1596
pew1609
enfold?1611
stya1616
incabinate1672
web1864
1609 W. M. Man in Moone sig. D3v To pick a pocket, or peruert some honest mans wife, he would on purpose be pued with all.
1831 Examiner 71/1 The same men who were as willingly pewed in the parish church as their sheep were in night folds.
1855 P. J. Bailey Mystic 59 Order loftier than the mind of man Pews in its petty systems.
1864 E. C. Stedman Alice of Monmouth 137 The Dominie preach'd the morning out..While tough old Peter Stuyvesant Sat pew'd in foremost station.
1999 Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) (Nexis) 22 Nov. 6 d What passing bells for these audience members packed and pewed as cattle?
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > furniture > seat > pew > [verb (transitive)] > furnish with pews
pew1686
1686 in A. Laing Lindores Abbey (1876) xx. 242 It was agreed that the Kirk be pewed.
a1733 H. Bourne Hist. Newcastle (1736) x. §4. 131 This Chapel was lately beautified and Pewed.
1766 Hist. Pelham, Mass. (1898) 119 The Town Has agreed on a Method to Pew or Repair the Meeting House.
1823 Mrs. C. Cholmondeley Let. 27 July in Heber Lett. (1950) x. 306 Some of the people want to have their open seats pewed.
1861 E. A. Freeman in W. R. W. Stephens Life & Lett. E. A. Freeman (1895) I. v. 321 The Normans are inferior to the Gascons in this, that they pew their churches and sometimes lock them.
1894 Speaker 12 May 524/2 The..benchers plastered it and pewed it and galleried it and whitewashed it [sc. the Temple Church].
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
pewint.
/pjuː/, U.S. /pju/ Expressing contempt, disgust, or derision. Cf. pooh int., phew int.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > exclamations of contempt [interjection]
prut?c1300
trutc1330
truptc1380
ahaa1400
tushc1440
puff1481
quotha?1520
ah?1526
ta ha1528
twish1577
blurt1592
gip1592
pish1592
tantia1593
(God) bless (also save) the mark1593
phah1593
marry come up1597
mew1600
pooh1600
marry muff1602
pew waw1602
ptish1602
pew1604
push1605
pshaw1607
tuh1607
pea1608
poh1650
pooh pooh1694
hoity-toity1695
highty-tighty1699
quoz?1780
indeed1834
shuck1847
skidoo1906
suck1913
zut1915
yah boo1921
pooey1927
ptui1930
snubs1934
upya1941
yah boo sucks1980
1604 J. Marston & J. Webster Malcontent (new ed.) i. vii. sig. C4 Pue, thou giuest no good reason, Thou speakest like a foole.
a1625 J. Fletcher Noble Gentleman iii. iv, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Ee3v/2 Pew, nothing, the law Shallicke cuts him off.
1658 W. Chamberlayne Loves Victory i. i. 2 Pew, you dotard, doest think I will be frighted out of my Boy.
1678 E. Ravenscroft Eng. Lawyer iii. i. 32 Peuh! you are mistaken.
1787 R. P. Jodrell Disguise ii. ii, in Select Dramatic Pieces 234 Peugh! Pfha! Pfha! What can this be?
1853 B. Webster Man of Law iv. 47 Peuh! a titmouse catcher!
1858 E. Bulwer-Lytton What will he do with It? (Tauchnitz ed.) III. vi. vi. 167 Is this the place? Peuh!
1941 E. R. Eddison Fish Dinner ix. 164 Pew! what an ungratefulness and unwontness the man is grown unto!
1990 S. Miller Family Pictures ii. xiii. 261 Sometimes when I saw my boyfriend right afterward, he'd pull his head back from my stinky hair and say, ‘Pew: therapy!’
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1c1400
n.2?a1500n.31765v.1a1425v.21609
int.1604- biogeographers
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