tew
/tjuː/
tew noun: prep work; labour. Also the pronunciation spelling of too.
Noun (1)
tew (plural tews)
Verb
tew (third-person singular simple present tews, present participle tewing, simple past and past participle tewed)
- To tow along, as a vessel.
- By which the Danes had then their full-fraught Navies tew’d:1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion, song 12 p. 197
- To prepare (leather, hemp, etc.) by beating or working; to taw.
- It' I bequeath to Richard Smythe, of Steton, my best losyn sherte, a tewed bull skyn, a bushell of wheate, and a bushel of barlie.1910 (quoting work from 1551), The Publications of the Thoresby Society - Volumes 18-19, page 280
- yet wee found no townes, nor many of their houses, although we saw manie Indians, which are tall big boned men, all naked, saving they cover their privy parts with a blacke tewed skin, much like a Black-smithes apron, tied about their middle and betweene their legs behinde:1602, M. John Brereton, Brereton's Briefe and True Relation of the Discoverie of the North Part of Virginia
- To beat; to scourge.
- with the king ran also Dyvers others, who all returning brought Cudgells and wandes in their hands all to be tewed, as if they had beaten him extreamly.1607, ?Gavriel Archer, A relayton of the Discovery of our River, from Iames Forte into the Maine
- On the shores which lie open to the East, the grass grows down to the water side, and they are the greener shores; but on the shores exposed to the West, the grass and trees are weather beaten and worn away, and the shore sides much tewed with the surge.1813, James Burney, A Chronological History of the Discoveries in the South Sea Or Pacific Ocean, page 357
- To muddle; to mix up.
- Within here, h'as made the gayest sport with Tom the Coachman, so tewed him up with Sack that he lies lashing a But of Malmsie for his Mares.1639, John Fletcher, Wit Without Money
- “Happen there was a lass tewed up wi 'it. Men do more than more for th' sake of a lass.1890, Rudyard Kipling, “On Greenhow Hill”, in Mine Own People
- To work at or worry.
- The book was in town, I sent a Friend for it, who brought it to the governor: the priest tewed and turned it, but could not find any thing to prove his charge.1829, William Edmundson, A Journal of the Life, Travels, Safferings and Labour of Love in the Work of the Ministry, page 79
- His first words were, “Since I saw you I 'tewed' hard for it betwint me and God, and He has pardoned my sins.1870, Jottings from memory, by a clergyman, page 69
- To harangue or argue with.
- You should have ta'en her then, turn'd her, and tewed her I' th' strength of all her resolution, flatter'd her, and shaked her stubborn will; she would have thank'd you, She would have loved you infinitely;1647, John Fletcher, William Rowley, The Maid in the Mill
- But it haint his doin's; he has been tewed at, night and day.1879, Marietta Holley, Josiah Allen's Wife as a P.A. and P.I. Samantha at the Centennial, page 404
- To tease; to vex or worry.
- but having received his orders early that morning from the trainer, accompanied with a warning not to suffer himself to be tewed (Yorkshire patois for worried) by anything Mr. Mellish might say, the sallow-complexioned lad walked about in the calm serenity of innocence1863, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Aurora Floyd - Volume 1, page 201
- After dinner uncle Joe made off to his piggeries; while aunt Dorothy fell asleep in a capacious old arm-chair by the fire, after making an apologetic remark to the effect that she was tired, and had been a good deal "tewed" that morning in the dairy. "Tewed," I understand, is Yorkshire for...1867, Belgravia - Volume 3, page 10
- To work hard; to strive.
- He 'le tug and tew, and strive and stoope to ought.1621, Braithwaite, Nature's Embassie, page 152
- Poor Nannie tewed on, hau'f hungered ti deead, Sha kenn'd nowt o ' t'gowd 'at war squandered awaay, Just 'arnin 'eneeaf fer watter an' breead.1914, Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society - Volumes 3-4, page 59
Noun (2)
tew (plural tews)
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Tew
Tew (plural Tews)
- A surname.
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Tew
Tew
- Alternative form of Tiu (the god Tyr).
- Frey and Tew were the chief gods of the Swedes and Franks, Thunder (Thórr) of the Reams and Throwends in West Norway.1892, Frederick York Powell, “Teutonic Heathendom”, in Religious Systems of the World: A Contribution to the Study of Comparative Religion, page 281
Also used as
tew is also the pronunciation spelling of too.
Examples of tew in a sentence
- These afford very good dubbing, and a variety, especially those hides that have been tewed, or dressed in a skinner's lime-pit;1807, Thomas Best, A Concise Treatise on the Art of Angling, page 99:
- "Tewed," I understand, is Yorkshire for "worried."1867, Belgravia - Volume 3, page 10:
- Parkinson, I have been as ill done by as that young lady; I have been worried, and tewed, and cheated out of my life and senses .1800, Francis Lathom, Men and Manners, page 33:
- My missis and me liv'd i' peace fifty-three years, Peg wur allus a Chapel goer, bud I wur a careless chap and that tewed her.1881, Alethea M. Huddleston, John Hazlehurst; or, Original sin, page 182:
Forms of tew
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | tews |
| alternative form | tue |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | tews |
| present participle | tewing |
| past participle | tewed |
| past | tewed |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Tews |
Origin of tew
From Middle English tewen, a variant of tawen (“to taw, prepare”). More at taw.
Uncertain. Perhaps from an unrecorded Middle English *tewe, *teoȝ, from Old English *tēog (“utensil, tackle, rigging”), from Proto-West Germanic *teug, from Proto-Germanic *teugą (“gear, utensil”). If so, then cognate with West Frisian túch (“rigging, tackle”), Dutch tuig (“rigging, tackle”), German Zeug (“equipment, stuff”). More at toy.
Two possible origins: * English habitational surname from the villages of Great, Little and Duns Tew, in Oxfordshire, all from Old English tīewe (“row; lenghty object”) or tīwe (“meeting place, court”). * Welsh nickname for a fat man, from Welsh tew (“plump”).
Words that rhyme with tew
Questions about tew
- What does tew mean?
- Tew means prep work; labour.
- How do you use tew in a sentence?
- These afford very good dubbing, and a variety, especially those hides that have been tewed, or dressed in a skinner's lime-pit;
- What part of speech is tew?
- Tew can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce tew?
- Tew is pronounced /tjuː/.
- What is the plural of tew?
- The plural of tew is tews.
Words near tew in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tew (page history and authors); Tew (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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Cite this entry: “tew.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tew. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.