Word.ws English Dictionary

lewes

/ˈluː.ɪs/

lewes is the plural of lew.

Meaning of lew

Noun (1)

lew (plural lews or lewis or leois)

  1. (Scotland, obsolete) A French gold coin circulated in 15th-century Scotland.
    • ...þe Ingliss noble, henry, ande Eduarde wᵗ þe ross, þe franche crowne, þe salute þe lewe and þe Ridar sall haif courss in þis realme...1467, Scottish Acts of James III, Vol. II, p. 88

Noun (2)

lew (plural lews)

  1. (Scotland) Warmth, heat.
    • To th' end a fruitfull lew
      May euerie Climate in his time renew.1605, J. Sylvester translating G. de S. Du Bartas as Deuine Weekes & Wks, Book i, Ch. iv, p. 136
  2. (dialectal) A shelter from the wind, particularly temporary structures raised by shepherds to protect their flocks.
    • Lew, shelter; defence from storms or wind.1825, J. Jennings, Observ. Dial. W. Eng., p. 52

See all 14 meanings of lew

Proper noun capitalized: Lewes

Lewes (countable and uncountable, plural Leweses)

  1. A surname.
  2. A town and civil parish with a town council in Lewes district, East Sussex, England (OS grid ref TQ4110).
  3. A local government district in East Sussex, England. Seat: Lewes, formed in 1974, with its headquarters in the town.
  4. A city in Sussex County, Delaware, United States.
  5. A community in Queens County, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Forms of lewes

pluralLeweses

Origin of lewes

From Middle English Lewes, from late Old English Lewes, a variant of earlier Lǣwe, of uncertain origin. Traditionally derived from Old English hlǣw (“hill”), referring to the several mounts in Lewes. Alternatively, perhaps derived from Old English lǣw (“cut, incision, gash”), referring to the narrow, steep-sided 'gash' where the River Ouse cuts through the line of the South Downs.

Words formed from lewes

Words that rhyme with lewes

Questions about lewes

What does lewes mean?
Lewes means a surname.
What is lewes the plural of?
Lewes is the plural of lew.
What part of speech is lewes?
Lewes is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce lewes?
Lewes is pronounced /ˈluː.ɪs/.

Words near lewes in the dictionary

  1. Lewelling
  2. Lewellings
  3. Lewellyn
  4. Lewellyns
  5. lewer
  6. lewes
  7. Lewesian
  8. Lewesians
  9. lewest
  10. Lewey
  11. Leweys

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lewes (page history and authors); Lewes (page history and authors); lew (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-ca-lewes.ogg.

Cite this entry: “lewes.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lewes. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.