yews

Noun

yew (countable and uncountable, plural yews)

1. (countable) A species of coniferous tree, Taxus baccata, with dark-green flat needle-like leaves and seeds bearing red arils, native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia.
   • Old Yew, which graspest at the stones
     ⁠That name the under-lying dead,
     ⁠Thy fibres net the dreamless head,
     Thy roots are wrapt about the bones.1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto II”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   English yew, European yew, common yew

2. (broadly, countable) Any tree or shrub of the genus Taxus.
3. in family Podocarpaceae.
4. in family Cephalotaxaceae.
5. (uncountable) The wood of such trees.
   • To prevent a too great conſumption of yew, bowyers were directed to make four bows of witch-haſel, aſh or elm, to one of yew, and no perſon under ſeventeen years of age, unleſs poſſeſſed of moveables worth forty marks, or the ſon of parents having an eſtate of ten pounds per annum might ſhoot in an...1786, Francis Grose, “Of Offensive Arms, or Weapons”, in A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, […], London: […] S. Hooper, […], →OCLC, pages 37–38
6. A bow for archery, made of yew wood.

See all 7 meanings of yew