dew

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

dew

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /djuː/, /d͡ʒ(j)uː/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /d(j)uː/
• (Wales, Canada) IPA^(key): /dɪu̯/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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• Homophones: do, doo (with yod-dropping), Jew (with yod-coalescence), due

Etymology 1

From Middle English dew, from Old English dēaw (“dew”), from Proto-Germanic *dawwaz, *dawwą (“dew, moisture”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“smoke, haze”). Cognate with German Tau, Dutch dauw and Afrikaans dou. Doublet of dag.

Noun

dew (countable and uncountable, plural dews)

1. (uncountable) Any moisture from the atmosphere condensed by cool bodies upon their surfaces.
2. (uncountable) Moisture in the air that settles on plants, etc in the morning or evening, resulting in drops.

   Synonym: (obsolete) rore

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Judges 6:36–40:

     And Gideon said vnto God, If thou wilt saue Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,
     Beholde, I will put a fleece of wooll in the floore: and if the deaw be on the fleece onely, and it bee drie vpon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt saue Israel by my hande, as thou hast said.
     And it was so: for he rose vp early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the deaw out of the fleece, a bowle full of water.
     And Gideon said vnto God, Let not thine anger be hote against me, and I will speake but this once: Let mee prooue, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece. Let it now be drie onely vpon the fleece, and vpon all the ground let there be deaw.
     And God did so that night: for it was drie vpon the fleece onely, and there was deaw on all the ground.

   • 2013, “We No Who U R”, in Warren Ellis, Nick Cave (lyrics), Push the Sky Away, performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds:

     Tree don't care what the little bird sings / We go down with the dew in the morning light / The tree don't know what the little bird brings / We go down with the dew in the morning

3. (countable, but see usage notes) An instance of such moisture settling on plants, etc.

   There was a heavy dew this morning.

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter X, in Francesca Carrara. , volume III, London: Richard Bentley, , (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 72:

     On their entrance, Aylmer was greeted by a new surprise—his daughter Lucy, whom he very naturally supposed was quietly in her bed, lay on the window-seat, the casement open, and herself asleep; but the traces of tears were upon her cheek, and her long fair hair loose, and yet saturated with the dews of the night.

4. (figurative) Anything that falls lightly and in a refreshing manner.
   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     the golden dew of sleep

5. (figurative) An emblem of morning, or fresh vigour.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Psalms 110:3:

     Thy people ſhalbe willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holineſſe from the wombe of the morning: thou haſt the dew of thy youth.

   • 1858 October 16, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Courtship of Miles Standish”, in The Courtship of Miles Standish, and Other Poems, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC:

     the dew of his youth

Usage notes

• Although the countable sense is still used, the plural form is now archaic or poetic only.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English dewe, dewyn, from Old English *dēawian, from Proto-West Germanic *dauwēn, from Proto-Germanic *dawwāną. Cognates include Saterland Frisian daue, German tauen and Dutch dauwen.

Verb

dew (third-person singular simple present dews, present participle dewing, simple past and past participle dewed)

1. To wet with, or as if with, dew; to moisten.
   • 1887, Andrew B. Saxton, “Sunken Graves”, in The Century:

     The grasses grew / A little ranker since they dewed them so.

Related terms

• bedew

Translations

Anagrams

• Wed, Wed., we'd, wed

Catalan

Etymology

From adeu.

Interjection

dew

1. (Internet slang) bye

Cornish

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *dọw, from Proto-Celtic *duwo, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁.

Numeral

dew m (feminine form diw)

1. two

Mutation

Middle English

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English dēaw, from Proto-West Germanic *dauw, from Proto-Germanic *dawwaz, *dawwą.

Alternative forms

• deau, deaw, deew, deu, dewe, dewȝ, dieuȝ
• dæw (Ormulum)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɛu̯/
• Rhymes: -ɛu̯

Noun

dew (plural dewes)

1. Dew; moisture present on plants.
2. (figurative) A rejuvenating substance.
3. (rare) Sodden or water-soaked terrain.

Derived terms

• dewy
• dewyn
• dewynge

Descendants

• English: dew
• Scots: dew, deow, dyow
• Yola: dhew

References

• “deu, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-12.

Etymology 2

Adjective

dew

1. Alternative form of dewe (“due”)

Noun

dew

1. Alternative form of dewe (“due”)

Welsh

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /deːu̯/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /dɛu̯/

Adjective

dew

1. Soft mutation of tew.

Mutation

Zazaki

Etymology

Compare Persian ده (deh).

Noun

dew

1. village

Declension

See also

• dewıc