sewel

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See also: šəw̕əɬ

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]

cognates

Noun

sewel (plural sewels)

  1. 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

Alternative forms

References

  1. ^ “sheueles, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “sewel, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2022.

Further reading

Anagrams

Cahuilla

Noun

séwel

  1. A bush which can be used as soap. Probably Atriplex polycarpa
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