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# mew

verb (mew, mews, mewed, mewing); noun (a mew, mews)

«mew» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition and Early Modern English — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. The soft, high crying sound a cat or kitten makes; to make this sound. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mew/#m1)
2. The cry of a gull or other bird, especially the mew gull (a kind of seagull). [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mew/#m2)
3. (mews, UK) A row of old stables in a city, now turned into houses, or a small street with such houses. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mew/#m3)

### In the lessons

In stories and everyday life, kittens mew when they are hungry; «miaow» or «meow» is the usual word for the sound. In the UK, a «mews» is a pretty, narrow street of small houses in cities like London. Phrases: mew softly, a mews house.

### Examples

- The kitten mewed for its mother. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mew/#x1)
- We heard a tiny mew from under the shed. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mew/#x2)
- Gulls mewed over the harbour. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mew/#x3)
- My aunt lives in a mews in London. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mew/#x4)
- The cat gave a sad little mew at the door. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mew/#x5)
- A mew gull is smaller than a herring gull. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mew/#x6)
- And then it mewed more than ever. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mew/#x7)

### Note

Regular verb: mewed, mewing. Compare: meow / miaow (louder, the usual word), purr (happy rumble), hiss (angry). «Mews» (street) is singular with an «s»: «a mews». Pronounced MYOO, like «mule» without the «l».

## In Jewish tradition

Interpretation: Jewish law calls these birds unclean, so they are not kosher. The rabbis listed signs to tell which birds are allowed. In the primary lessons: In stories and everyday life, kittens mew when they are hungry; «miaow» or «meow» is the usual word for the sound. In the UK, a «mews» is a pretty, narrow street of small houses in cities like London. Phrases: mew softly, a mews house.

### Examples

- and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the sea-mew, and the hawk after its kinds; (Torah LEV.11.16, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/M/mew/#x1)

### Note

Regular verb: mewed, mewing. Compare: meow / miaow (louder, the usual word), purr (happy rumble), hiss (angry). «Mews» (street) is singular with an «s»: «a mews». Pronounced MYOO, like «mule» without the «l».

## Early Modern English

### Meaning

In the Torah, a mew is a sea-gull, a seabird; in the fairy tales it is a cat's soft high cry. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/M/mew/#m1)

### Then and now

Today it means only a cat's cry; the Torah sense (a sea-gull) is no longer used, and the fairy-tale sentences use the cat sense as today.

### Examples

- and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the sea-mew, and the hawk after its kinds; (Torah LEV.11.16, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/M/mew/#x1)
- And then it mewed more than ever. (The Book of Dragons) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/M/mew/#x2)
- "Well, I should have mewed," said the kitchen-cat. (Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/M/mew/#x3)

### Note

Today: cat's cry (for the mew sense, seagull).

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «mew» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mew/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«mew» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/mew.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of «mew» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/M/mew/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«mew» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/mew.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of «mew» in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/M/mew/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«mew» in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/emode/w/mew.html) on Mova free.