Word.ws English Dictionary

tewed

tewed is the simple past and past participle of tew.

Meaning of tew

Verb

tew (third-person singular simple present tews, present participle tewing, simple past and past participle tewed)

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. (broadly) 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
  4. 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
  5. 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
  6. 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

See all 14 meanings of tew

Adjective

tewed (comparative more tewed, superlative most tewed)

  1. (dialectal, obsolete) fatigued; worn from labour or hardship
    • These lockes that hang unkempt, these hollowe dazled eyes, These chattering teeth, this trebling tongue, well tewed with carefull cries.1573, George Gascoigne, John William Cunliffe, “The Anatomye of a Lover”, in The Complete Works of George Gascoigne, published 1907, page 37
    • He would take no medicine, have no doctor, change no habits—"what did they want to mak on him? he wad du weel eneugh! nowt ailed him to speak on— he was nobbut a lile bit tewed wi ' t' summer's wark, an' off his feed, like auld Horney in t'byre younder;"1866, Elizabeth Lynn Linton, Lizzie Lorton of Greyrigg, page 114

Forms of tewed

comparativemore tewed
superlativemost tewed

Questions about tewed

What does tewed mean?
Tewed means fatigued; worn from labour or hardship.
What is tewed the simple past and past participle of?
Tewed is the simple past and past participle of tew.
What part of speech is tewed?
Tewed is an adjective.

Words near tewed in the dictionary

  1. Tewari
  2. Tewaris
  3. tewart
  4. tewarts
  5. Tewas
  6. tewed
  7. tewel
  8. Tewell
  9. Tewells
  10. tewels
  11. Tewes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tewed (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: “tewed.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tewed. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.