▪ I. rew, n.1 Obs. exc. dial.
Forms: 1 rǽw, réw, réaw, 3 reawe, 4–7 rewe, 5–7, 9 rew, 9 rue.
[OE. rǽw, etc. (see 2 b), var. of ráw row n.]
† 1. In adverbial phrases: a. by rew, in order, successively. Also in rew. Obs.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 336 Go so adunewardes bi reawe & bi reawe, uor tu kume to þe laste. 13.. R. Glouc. (Rolls) 6984 Þe bissopes ech on Bi rewe asoileden þe king of his gret trespas. c 1386 Chaucer Wife's T. Preamble 506 That feele I on my ribbes al by rewe. 1388 Wyclif Acts xviii. 23 He wente forth, walkinge bi rewe thorou the cuntrei of Galathie. c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. xiv. 233 Whiche ij. textis, if thei ben considered as thei liggen to gidere in rewe, it schal be seen [etc.]. 1470–85 Malory Arthur ii. i. 77 Moost of..the barons..assayed alle by rewe, but ther myght non spede. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 228 Before that thou shalt haue rekened vp by rewe one after other..the xxiiii. lettres. 1591 Spenser Tears of Muses 233 So rested shee; and then the next in rew Began her grievous plaint. |
† b. on or in a rew, in a row or line. Obs.
Cf. arew arow adv. and OE. on ᵹerǽwe.
| c 1290 St. Brendan 278 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 227 He ladde him and is monekus in-to a noble halle, And setten heom a-doun alle on a rewe. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 1692 Ther come the ferthe companye.., And gunne stonde in a rewe. c 1386 ― Knt.'s T. 2008 To hakke and hewe The okes olde, and leye hem on a rewe. 1503 Hawes Examp. Virt. xiii. 254 All the ladyes..Stode on a rewe besyde the closette. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. vi. 17 She found the Goddesse with her crew..Sitting beside a fountaine in a rew. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. ii. 99 Rugged rocks set orderly, as it were in a rew. 1615 Chapman Odyss. xxi. 173 On a rew [he] Set them, of one height, by a line he drew. |
† 2. A row or line of persons or things; a rank or series. Obs.
| c 1290 St. Wulstan 224 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 77 Al along þe rewe þoruȝ þe queor he gan i-wiende. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 308 Than sen thei stonde on every side,..Of Penonceals a riche rewe. c 1430 Two Cookery bks. 53 Plante..a rew of on, & rew of a-noþer. c 1500 World & Child 532, I take recorde of this rewe My thedome is nere past. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 60 The floures..growing thicke togither in rewes by one side of the stem. 1601 [Bp. W. Barlow] Defence 218 Registred in his rew of erroneous Doctors. a 1623 Ainsworth Annot. Ps. lxviii. 14 Betweene the two bankes or rewes, to wit, of stones made to hang pots and kettles on. 1664 Spelman's Gloss. s.v. Reia, A rew of muck or dung. |
b. dial. A hedgerow.
OE. examples (heᵹe-, wiþiᵹrǽw) occur in Kemble Cod. Dipl. II. 54, III. 48, V. 275, etc.
| 1853 Cooper Sussex Gloss. (ed. 2), Rue, a row; a hedgerow. 1889 Nevill Old Cottages 115 (E.D.D.), The paving of this road is still very perfect in some of the wooded ‘rews’ at Coxland. |
c. dial. (See quot.)
| 1886 Elworthy W. Som. Gloss., Rue, the row or ridge in which grass falls when cut with a scythe. |
† 3. A streak, stripe. Obs. rare.
| c 1290 Beket 2177 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 169 A smal rewe þer was of blode, þat ouer his nose drouȝ. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 304 [Water-leeches] þat han reed wombis & litil reed rewis in þe rigge medlid wiþ grene. 1611 Cotgr., Se rayer, to be full of rayes, rewes, or streakes. 1684 [see rewey a.]. |
† 4. A line in a book. Obs. rare.
| 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles Prol. 54 Beholde þe book onys, And redeth on him redely rewis an hundrid. |
▪ II. † rew, n.2 Sc. Obs.
Also 6 reu.
[a. F. rue.]
A street; also, a village.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xv. 71 Than wes the slauchter so felloune, That all the rewys ran of blude. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paulus) 575 Of þis towne pase til a rew, Quhare þat Iuda dwellis now. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. v. ii. 359 Born of þe lande of Galile, In til þe rew of Bethsayda. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 351 Quhen thay Princis appeirit into Paris, Ilk Rew Ryallie with riches thame arrayis. 1533 Bellenden Livy i. xviii. (S.T.S.) I. 106 The place quhare þe deid was done Is callit ȝit þe vnhappy and cursit rew. 1549 Compl. Scot. ix. 76 Ald ande ȝong ar slane on the reuis but mercy. 1590 in J. B. Pratt Buchan (1858) 101 The handbell passing throu the haill rewis. |
▪ III. † rew, n.3 Obs. rare—1.
[a. ON. ró: see roove n.]
A form of burr for a rivet.
| c 1440 York Myst. viii. 109 It sall be cleyngked..With nayles þat are both noble and newe... Take here a revette, and þere a rewe. |
▪ IV. † rew, a.
? obs. variant of raw a. 6.
| c 1440 Alph. Tales 211 Cristen men..fand þe child in þe ovyn, syttand opon þe hate colis, right as [he] had syttyn opon fayr flowris; and hym aylid no rew sore. |
▪ V. † rew, v. Obs.
[Related to rew n.1: cf. OE. ᵹerǽwed striped, set in rows.]
trans. To mark with lines or stripes. Hence † rewing vbl. n.
| 1558 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 21, vi Turkye gounes of Crymesen rewed with golde threed. Ibid. 82, vi peces of laune rewed with counterfete gowlde. 1611 Cotgr., Poiler,..to rew; to dy or colour vneuenly. Ibid., Rayement,..a rewing. Rayer,..to rew, streake, or skore all ouer. |
▪ VI. rew
obs. form of rue n. and v.
▪ VII. rew
to sift: see ree v.