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sewel. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
sewel, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
sewel in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
sewel you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From Early Middle English sheueles (“scarecrow”) ;[1] probably from Old English *scīewels, from sċīen (“to be frightened or startled; to recoil in fear”) (from Proto-West Germanic *skiuhijan (“to dread; to avoid, shun”), from Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz (“frightened; bashful, coy, shy, timid; cautious, reserved”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *skewbʰ-, *skūbʰ- (“to drive, move forward, push”) or *(s)kewH- (“to cover; to hide”)) + -els (suffix forming masculine nouns). Doublet of shy.[2]
Noun
sewel (plural sewels)
- A scarecrow, generally made of feathers tied to a string, hung up to prevent deer from breaking into a place.
1768, John Cartwright, Remarks on the Situation of the Aborigines of Newfoundland :Their sewels are made by tying a tassel of birch rind , formed like the wing of a paper kite , to the small end of a slight stick , about six feet in length. These sticks are pricked into the ground about ten or a dozen yards apart
References
- ^ “sheueles, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ “sewel, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2022.
Further reading
Anagrams
Cahuilla
Noun
séwel
- A bush which can be used as soap. Probably Atriplex polycarpa