hew

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

hew, v. t. [AS. heáwan; akin to D. houwen, OHG. houwan, G. hauen, Icel. höggva, Sw. hugga, Dan. hugge, Lith. kova battle, Russ. kovate to hammer, forge. Cf. Hay cut grass, Hoe.].

•  To cut with an ax; to fell with a sharp instrument; -- often with down, or off.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  To form or shape with a sharp instrument; to cut; hence, to form laboriously; -- often with out; as, to hew out a sepulcher.  [1913 Webster]

  "Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn."  [1913 Webster]

  "Rather polishing old works than hewing out new."  [1913 Webster]
•  To cut in pieces; to chop; to hack.  [1913 Webster]

  "Hew them to pieces; hack their bones asunder."  [1913 Webster]

hew, n. 

 Destruction by cutting down.  [1913 Webster]
"Of whom he makes such havoc and such hew."  [1913 Webster]

hew, n. 

•  Hue; color.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]
•  Shape; form.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

hew, abbr. US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

hew, v. (past part. hewn or hewed)
1 tr. a (often foll. by down, away, off) chop or cut (a thing) with an axe, a sword, etc. b cut (a block of wood etc.) into shape.
2 intr. (often foll. by at, among, etc.) strike cutting blows.
3 intr. US (usu. foll. by to) conform.

Idiom

hew one's way make a way for oneself by hewing.

Etymology

OE heawan f. Gmc

THESAURUS

hew

amputate, ax, bisect, block out, blow down, blow over, bowl down, bowl over, bring down, bulldog, butcher, carve, cast, cast down, chisel, chop, chop down, cleave, create, cut, cut away, cut down, cut in two, cut off, dash down, deck, dichotomize, dissever, down, drop, efform, excise, fashion, fell, fetch down, figure, fissure, fix, floor, forge, form, formalize, found, frame, gash, ground, hack, halve, hew down, incise, jigsaw, knead, knock down, knock out, lance, lay level, lay low, lay out, level, lick into shape, mint, model, mold, mow down, pare, precipitate, prostrate, prune, pull down, rase, raze, rend, rive, rough out, roughcast, roughhew, saw, scissor, sculpt, sculpture, send headlong, set, sever, shape, slash, slice, slit, snip, split, spread-eagle, stamp, sunder, supinate, tailor, take down, tear, thermoform, throw, throw down, topple, trip, tumble, whack down, whittle, work

ROGET THESAURUS

hew

Disjunction

VB be disjoined, come off, fall off, come to pieces, fall to pieces, peel off, get loose, disjoin, disconnect, disengage, disunite, dissociate, dispair, divorce, part, dispart, detach, separate, cut off, rescind, segregate, set apart, keep apart, insulate, isolate, throw out of gear, cut adrift, loose, unloose, undo, unbind, unchain, unlock, unpack, unravel, disentangle, set free, sunder, divide, subdivide, sever, dissever, abscind, circumcise, cut, incide, incise, saw, snip, nib, nip, cleave, rive, rend, slit, split, splinter, chip, crack, snap, break, tear, burst, rend, rend asunder, rend in twain, wrench, rupture, shatter, shiver, cranch, crunch, craunch, chop, cut up, rip up, hack, hew, slash, whittle, haggle, hackle, discind, lacerate, scamble, mangle, gash, hash, slice, cut up, carve, dissect, anatomize, dislimb, take to pieces, pull to pieces, pick to pieces, tear to pieces, tear to tatters, tear piecemeal, tear limb from limb, divellicate, skin, disintegrate, dismember, disbranch, disband, disperse, dislocate, disjoint, break up, mince, comminute, apportion, part, part company, separate, leave.

Shortness

VB be short, render short, shorten, curtail, abridge, abbreviate, take in, reduce, compress, epitomize, retrench, cut short, obtruncate, scrimp, cut, chop up, hack, hew, cut down, pare down, clip, dock, lop, prune, shear, shave, mow, reap, crop, snub, truncate, pollard, stunt, nip, check the growth of, foreshorten (in drawing).

Form

VB form, shape, figure, fashion, efform, carve, cut, chisel, hew, cast, rough hew, rough cast, sketch, block out, hammer out, trim, lick into shape, put into shape, model, knead, work up into, set, mold, sculpture, cast, stamp, build.