dewy

English

Etymology

From Middle English dewy, deuhy, from Old English dēawiġ, from Proto-West Germanic *dauwag, *dauwīg, equivalent to dew + -y.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈdjuː.i/, /ˈd͡ʒuː.i/, /ˈduː.i/
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Adjective

dewy (comparative dewier or more dewy, superlative dewiest or most dewy)

  1. Covered by dew.
    Synonyms: bedewed, rory; see also Thesaurus:bedewed
    The dewy grass was too slick for football.
  2. Having the quality of bearing droplets of water.
    In the dewy fog, it was cold and damp.
    • 1831, Edgar Allan Poe, The Sleeper:
      At midnight, in the month of June, / I stand beneath the mystic moon. / An opiate vapor, dewy, dim, / Exhales from out her golden rim
  3. Fresh and innocent.
    • 1814, 16 March, Percy Bysshe Shelley letter to Hogg, Thy Gentle Face
      Thy dewy looks sink in my breast
      Thy gentle words stir poison there;
    • 1906 January–October, Joseph Conrad, chapter II, in The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale, London: Methuen & Co., [], published 1907, →OCLC; The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale (Collection of British Authors; 3995), copyright edition, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1907, →OCLC, page 13:
      It was unusually early for him; his whole person exhaled the charm of almost dewy freshness; [...]
    • 2009, Bernfried Nugel, Jerome Meckier, Aldous Huxley Annual, →ISBN, page 23:
      Simplicity in life, simplicity in art, and a dewy freshness over all.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English dēawiġ, from Old English dēaw. Equivalent to dew + -y.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈdɛu̯.iː/

Adjective

dewy

  1. Resembling dew; dewy
  2. Resembling water.

Descendants

  • English: dewy

References

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