▪ I. yew, n.
(juː)
Forms: 1 iuu, iw, eow, eoh, 4–7 ewe, 4–8 ew, (4 w, hw, hue, 5 hew, uu, uv, new), 5–6 u, 5–7 eu, 6 yeue, yue, yow(e, iewe, eughe, u(g)he, 6–7 ewgh, 6–8 ugh, yeugh, eugh, 7 yugh, yewgh, eue, 6– yew. Also 6 veiwe, 6–7 vewe, 7– view, etc.: see vew.
[OE. {iacu}w, éow, late éoh, str. masc., corresp., with consonant-alternation and variation of gender, to OS. îh, pl. îchas, MLG., MDu. îwe, iewe, uwe, OHG. îuu, îuui str. masc., îuua wk. fem., îga str. fem. (MHG. îwe, îbe, G. eibe, Swiss dial. îche, îge), ON. {yacu}r (chiefly, bow):—OTeut. *īhwaz, *īᵹwaz, *īhwō, *īᵹwō. (F. if, Sp. iva, med.L. ivus, are from Germanic; (M)Du. ijf is ad. F. if.)
Related obscurely to the Germanic forms are: OIr. eo, W. ywen, Cornish hivin, Breton iven, going back to OCeltic *ivos; Lith. jëvà, Lett. ēwa black alder (OPruss. iuwis, Lett. iwe yew, are from MLG.); OSl. (Russ., Serb.) iva willow.]
1. a. A tree of the genus Taxus (N.O. Coniferæ) widely distributed in the North Temperate Zone, esp. T. baccata, the common yew of Europe and Asia, having heavy elastic wood and dense dark-green foliage; often planted in churchyards, and regarded as symbolic of sadness.
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) T 15 Taxus, iuu. 985 Charter of æðelred in Kemble Cod. Dipl. III. 218 Of wænhyrste on ðone eald iw; ðonone of ðon iwe to Lullan setle. a 1000 Riddles lvi. 9 Þær wæs hlin & ac & se hearda iw & se fealwa holen. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 139/14 Ornus, eow. c 1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Rel. Ant. II. 82/2 Eye, w [Arundel MS., if, ew]. c 1340 Nominale (Skeat) 667 Hw, rosetre and hawetre. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 2065 Mapul, thorn, bech, hasel, Ew, whippeltre. a 1400 Gloss. in Rel. Ant. I. 7 Taxus, ewe. 1535 in E. Law Hampton Crt. Pal. (1885) 372 Treys of Yow, Sypers, Genaper, and Bayes. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 150 The berries of the Italian Ughe. 1587 L. Mascall Govt. Cattle, Oxen (1596) 36 Yeugh is euill for cattell to eate. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. ii. iii. 107 They told me they would binde me heere, Vnto the body of a dismall yew. 1612 Webster White Devil i. ii. 262 Under that Eu, As I sat sadly leaning on a grave. 1625 Bacon Ess., Gardens (Arb.) 555 Iuniper; Cipresse Trees; Eugh. 1663 Cowley Verses on Sev. Occas., Complaint 4 Beneath a Bow'r for sorrow made,..Of the black Yew's unlucky green. 1699 Garth Dispens. ii. 11 Beneath the gloomy Covert of an Eugh. 1706 Hearne Coll. (O.H.S.) I. 223 Robinson..pull'd up some of y⊇ Ews. 1715 Ibid. V. 39 Some say that tis to be planted with Ugh, dwarf Ughs. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 44, I threw myself beneath a blasted yeugh. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 478 Ews 6 [feet in circumference]. 1872 Oliver Elem. Bot. ii. 247 The wood of the Yew is said never to be attacked by insects. |
b. The wood of this tree,
esp. as the material of bows.
| a 1400 King & Hermit 199 Wyth a bow of hue full strong And arowys knyte in a thong. 1524 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 177 A bowe of u. 1530 Palsgr. 234/1 Iewe wode to make bowes, hyf. Ibid. 291/2 Yowe to make bowes of, hyf. 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 113 Ewe of all other thynges, is that, wherof perfite shootyng woulde haue a bowe made. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 9 The Eugh obedient to the benders will. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. ii. 117 Their Bowes Of double fatall Eugh. 1619 Drayton Odes xvii. 73 With Spanish Ewgh so strong, Arrowes a Clothyard long. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 18 Apr. 1680, One roome parquetted with yew, which I lik'd well. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. iii. xx, My bow of yew to a hazel wand. 1899 E. J. Chapman Drama of Two Lives, Snake-Witch 32 The chevron bands that edg'd the floor All shapely set in oak and yew. |
c. Branches or sprigs of the tree,
esp. as symbols of sadness.
| c 1450 in Aungier Syon (1840) 349 Two bysoms made of boxe and ewe. c 1450 Mirk's Festial (MS. Claud. A. ii. lf. 52), We have non olyfe þat beruth grene leves, we takon in stede of hit hew and palmes wyth, and beruth abowte on procession. 1547 Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden) 29 Yeve and candelles at Ester to hange in the churche. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iv. 56 My shrowd of white, stuck all with Ew. 1697 Dryden æneis iv. 731 Sad Cypress, Vervain, Eugh, compose the Wreath. 1820 Shelley Prometh. Unb. iv. 16 Strew, oh, strew Hair, not yew! Wet the dusty pall with tears, not dew! |
¶ d. Applied to some flowering plants.
| 1653 R. Sanders Physiogn. Pref. b 2, The flowers of plants having the resemblance of Butterflies..; as our English Gandergoose, the flower of Beans, Woodbine, Ew, and Ragwort. 1674 tr. Scheffer's Lapland 141 The thin leaved heath, that bears a Berry, which some call ground Ewe. |
2. A bow made of the wood of the yew.
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. iv. Handicrafts 490 Through a Forrest Tubal (with his Yew And ready quiver) did a Boar pursue. 1697 Dryden æneis ix. 854 At the full stretch of both his Hands, he drew, And almost join'd the Horns of the tough Eugh. a 1718 Prior Henry & Emma 345 To send the Arrow from the twanging Yew. 1728 Ramsay Archers diverting themselves 13 To see them draw the bended yew. 1817 Scott Harold ii. iii, When from Wulfstane's bended yew Sprung forth the grey-goose shaft. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
yew-berry,
yew-bough,
yew-flat,
yew-frond,
yew-hedge,
yew-leaf,
yew-stock,
yew-wood; made of yew-wood, as
yew-bow,
yew-panel;
yew-besprinkled,
yew-crested,
yew-hedged,
yew-leaved,
yew-roofed adjs. See also
yew-tree.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 350 Do him þis læcedome..*eowberᵹe..ofᵹeot mid ealaþ. 1768 G. White Selborne, To Pennant 8 Oct., The ousel..fed on yew-berries. 1820 Keats Melancholy i, Make not your rosary of yew-berries. 1851 G. Meredith Love in the Valley vii, Threading it with colour, like yewberries the yew. |
| 1868 Morris Earthly Par., Man born to be King 1479 The feet Of the long *yew-besprinkled hill. |
| 1867 ― Jason vii. 137 She..to a *yew-bough made the boat's head fast. |
| 1558 Nottingham Rec. IV. 123 A dosyn of *ewe bowes. [1622 Inv. (Nottingham) in N. & Q. 1st Ser. VI. 10/1 Foure Spanishe viewe bowes.] 1727 Somerville Yeoman of Kent 9 Bow-men..Whose good yew-bows, and sinews strong, Drew arrows of a cloth-yard long. 1860 Longfellow Wayside Inn, K. Olaf xx. i, From his yew-bow, tipped with silver, Flew the arrows fast. |
| 1814 Scott Flora Macivor's Song xi, The *yew-crested bonnet o'er tresses of grey! |
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 491 The walls are tapestried with a paper of *yewfronds. |
| a 1763 Shenstone Ess. Men & Mann. Wks. 1777 II. 116 Lord D―'s high shorn *yew-edges. 1777 Mrs. Thrale Let. to Johnson 18 Sept., A spirit of innovation has however reached even these at last... A yew hedge, or an eugh hedge if you will. 1832 Miss Mitford Village Ser. v. Christmas Amusem. 105 From the yew-hedge to the fountain. |
| 1830 Scott Doom Devorgoil i. i, The *yew-hedged garden. |
| 1688 Holme Armoury ii. 80/1 He beareth Argent, a *Yew leaf slipped. |
| 1731 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Abies, The Silver, or *Yew-leav'd Firr Tree. 1776 Withering Bot. Arrangem. I. 680 Yew-leaved Feathermoss. |
| a 1691 Aubrey Wilts (Royal Soc. MS.) 263 (Halliw.) With box and *ewgh pannells of about six inches square. |
| 1897 A. de Vere in Ld. Tennyson Tennyson I. xiii. 293 The *yew-roofed cloister of Muckross. |
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 118 An *Ev stok, taxum. |
| 1613 Holmesfield Crt. Rolls in Sheffield Gloss. (1888) Addenda s.v. Ewe forth, *Ewe Wood. 1830 Tennyson Oriana 19 In the yew-wood black as night. |
▪ II. † yew, v. local.
Obs. Also
yaw.
(See
quots.)
| 1748 W. Brownrigg Art of Making Common Salt ii. iv. 131 At the Lemington works..They boil the brine violently till a thin skin of salt appears on its surface. [Note] They say then that the brine begins to yew. 1828–32 Webster, Yaw, To rise in blisters, breaking in white froth, as cane juice in the sugar works... West Indies. Ibid., Yew, to rise, as scum on the brine in boiling at the salt works. |
▪ III. yew repr. a vulgar
pronunc. of
you. Also
yewall = you-all pers. pron.| 1890 Kipling Abaft Funnel (1909) 272 ‘Do yew know,’ as the Private Secretary said at Simla,..‘it's remarkably hard for an Anglo-Indian to get along in England.’ 1921 H. Williamson Beautiful Years 204 ‘Yew wait... Common as dirt, are we?.. Yew wait, young cocky-boy.’ ‘Yes, yew wait, yew slug-face, bag o' bones.’ 1968 A. Diment Great Spy Race i. 8 How can I help yew? 1977 Custom Car Nov. 14/1 Thank yewall. 1981 P. Macdonald One Way Street xix. 189 Yew just scoot, yew an' young John. |
▪ IV. yew(e see
ewe n.1,
give,
yeo n.1,
you,
yule.