▪ I. whew, n.1
(hwjuː, hjuː, wjuː)
Forms: 5 Sc. qwe, whewe, 6 Sc. quhew, 7, 9 dial. whue, 9 wheugh, 7– whew.
[Echoic.]
† 1. A musical instrument, a pipe. Obs.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 6051 For to wacche and to wake for wothis of harme, With qwistlis & qwes, & other qwaint gere. c 1475 Cath. Angl. 415/2 (Addit. MS.), A Whewe, fistula. |
2. a. A sound as of whistling or of something rushing through the air; spec. the cry of the plover.
| 1513 Douglas æneis vii. xi. 46 Than from the hevin dovne quhyrland wyth a quhew Come queyne Juno. c 1610 Robin Hood & Curtall Fryer xxxi. (Ritson), The fryer set his fist to his mouth, And whuted whues three. 1710 Ruddiman Gloss. Douglas's æneis, Quhew, the sound which a bird's wings make in the air. Scot. Bor. a Few, vox ex sono conficta. a 1784 Rookhope Ryde x. in Scott Minstrelsy, Then oer the moss, where as they came, With many a brank and whew. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. i. v. vi, The whew of lead still singing in their ears. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. xiii. 289 The yelping of the guid-guid, and the sudden whew⁓whew of the cheucau. 1851 H. Stephens Bk. Farm (ed. 2) II. 22 The shrill whew of the plover. |
b. dial. A factory hooter.
| 1869 J. Hartley Halifax Clock Almanack 48 Yond's th' whew, soa we mun goa an' do another bit for th' maister. 1929 J. B. Priestley Good Compan. iv. 118 Bruddersford has an elaborate system of factory buzzers—usually known as whews. 1934 ― Eng. Journey vi. 194 Time for them had been marked by the sound of its [sc. the mill's] hooter—locally known as a ‘whew’. |
3. An utterance of the interjection whew!
| 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. xxii. [xix], He uttered a long and loud whew! which was succeeded by an exclamation of ‘Damn my old shoes! a bite by G―!’ 1847 Helps Friends in C. i. iii, A sound from the old oak, like an ‘ah’ or a ‘whew’. 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho! xix, At sight of which Yeo gave a long wheugh. |
4. (Also whew-duck) = whewer.
| 1804 T. Bewick Brit. Birds II. 352 Wigeon. Whewer, Whim, or Pandled Whew. 1852 Macgillivray Brit. Birds V. 83 Mareca Penelope. The European Wigeon. Common Wigeon. Whew Duck. Pandle-Whew. |
▪ II. whew, n.2 dial.
[f. whew v.2]
A hurry; esp. in phr. all of a whew, in a hurry, impatient or excited.
| 1905 in Eng. Dial. Dict. VI. 453/1 Sec a whew he's in. 1922 A. Brown Old Crow xi. 119 He wants me to go down in his river pastur', choppin'. All of a whew to git at it. |
▪ III. whew, v.1
(hwjuː, hjuː, wjuː)
Also 6 Sc. quhew.
[Echoic.]
intr. To whistle; to make a whistling or rustling noise; to utter the interjection whew! Hence ˈwhewing vbl. n.
| c 1475 Cath. Angl. 415/2 (Addit. MS.), To Whewe, fistulare. 1590 J. Burel in Watson Coll. Sc. Poems (1709) ii. 31 Evrus..With quhewing, renewing, His bitter blasts againe. 1609 Dekker Gull's Horn-bk. vi. 32 Mewe at passionate speeches, blare at merrie,..whew at the childrens Action, whistle at the songs. 1765 [see whew int.]. 1801 R. Walker (Tim Bobbin 2nd) Plebeian Pol. 23, I met two pa's'ns weh grete geawns on, whewink i' th' wind. 1818 Hogg Brownie of Bodsbeck iii, I heard them [sc. the plovers] aye whewing e'en an' morn. 1848 Aird Mother's Blessing i. i, Down all at once a wind Came whewing from the hollow of the hill. 1896 Idler Mar. 324 Friend: ‘Whew―w!’ Man in Love (irritably) ‘Don't go {oqq}whewing{cqq} all over the place like that.’ |
▪ IV. whew, v.2
(hwjuː, wjuː)
Also wheugh, whue, whiew.
[perh. the same as prec.]
a. intr. To move quickly; to hurry away, depart abruptly (dial.); to bustle about (U.S.).
| 1684 Otway Atheist iii. i, Methought indeed the Coach whew'd it away a little faster than ordinary. a 1743 Relph Misc. Poems (1747) 17 See! owr the field the whurlin sun⁓shine whiews. 1828 Craven Gloss. s.v., ‘To whew off,’ to turn off abruptly, to depart without ceremony. 1873 Mrs. Whitney Other Girls xxxiii. (1876) 427 Bel Bree had not been brought up in a New England farm-house, and seen her capable stepmother ‘whew round’, to be hard put to it now over half a dozen cups and tumblers more or less. |
▪ V. whew, int.
(hwjuː, hjuː)
Forms: 5 Sc. quhewe, 7 wheu heu, 7–8 wheu, 8 whieu, whu, 8–9 whuh, 9 wheugh, 6– whew.
An exclamation of the nature of a whistle uttered by a person as a sign of astonishment, disgust, dismay, etc.
The identity of the word in the first quot. is uncertain.
| c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. xxix. 4949 (MS. Auchinl.) Ȝhit þai wiþin set wp a schout And cryit lowde and said ‘Quhewe! [v.r. Quhow] Now haif we heire the Montagew’. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. ii. 30 A plague vpon't, when Theeues cannot be true one to another. They Whistle. Whew: a plague light vpon you all. 1601 W. Percy Cuckqueanes etc. iii. iv. (Roxb.) 38 Don... Come on thy ways. Joi. I come. Pig. Wheu heu, wheu heu, now goe thy wayes. 1728 Ramsay The Lure 110 Whieu,—Whieu,—he whistled. 1765 Sterne Tr. Shandy VII. xxii, Whu—v—w—whew—w—w—whuved Margarita. 1766 Ibid. IX. xxxiii, Wheu—u—u— cried my father; beginning the sentence with an exclamatory whistle. 1770 Cumberland West Indian ii. viii, Whuh! What's the hurry the man's in? 1800 E. D. Clarke in Life (1824) v. 433 And now let the scene change—Whew!—away with inscriptions! 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxix, ‘But how did your joint production look the next morning?’.. ‘Wheugh! capital—not three words required to be altered.’ 1838 Dickens O. Twist xliv, Whew! said the housebreaker, wiping the perspiration from his face. 1898 ‘H. S. Merriman’ Roden's Corner xxxii, ‘Whew!’ ejaculated Roden, when the danger seemed to be past, and they could breathe again. |
▪ VI. whew
obs. form of hue n.1