yew

From Middle English ew, from Old English īw, ēow, from Proto-Germanic *īwaz, *īhwaz (compare Icelandic ýr), masculine variant of *īwō (compare Dutch ijf, German Eibe), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyHw-.

See also Hittite [script needed] (eja, “type of evergreen”), Welsh yw (“yews”), Irish eo [both cognates of Old English īw, Old English ēow]; and Latgalian īva (“bird cherry”), Lithuanian ievà (“bird cherry”), Russian и́ва (íva, “willow”).[1]

• enPR: yo͞o, IPA^(key): /juː/, /jɪʊ̯/
• Rhymes: -uː
• Homophones: ewe, u, you, (in h-dropping dialects) hew, hue

yew (countable and uncountable, plural yews)

1. (countable) A species of coniferous tree, Taxus baccata, with dark-green flat needle-like leaves and seeds bearing red arils, native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia.

   Synonyms: English yew, European yew, common yew

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto II:

     Old Yew, which graspest at the stones
     ⁠That name the under-lying dead,
     ⁠Thy fibres net the dreamless head,
     Thy roots are wrapt about the bones.

   • 1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 273:

     Have a tree or two the witches particularly like, such as the alder, larch, cypress and hemlock; then, to counteract any possible evil effects, there must be a holly, yew, hazel, elder, mountain ash or juniper.

2. (countable, by extension) Any tree or shrub of the genus Taxus.
3. Other conifers resembling plants in genus Taxus
   1. in family Podocarpaceae
   2. in family Cephalotaxaceae
4. (uncountable) The wood of the such trees.
   • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 37:

     To prevent a too great consumption of yew, bowyers were directed to make four bows of witch-hazel, ash or elm, to one of yew, and no person under seventeen years of age, unless possessed of moveables worth forty marks, of the son of parents having an estate of ten pounds per annum might shoot in an yew bow, under a penalty of 6s. 8d.

5. A bow for archery, made of yew wood.

yew (not comparable)

1. Made from the wood of the yew tree.

   Synonym: yewen

• Taxus baccata on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

yew

1. Eye dialect spelling of you.
   • 2012 July 1, T.L. Stanley, “No more crimes for her to solve”, in Los Angeles Times‎:

     A spinoff, “Major Crimes,” starring “Battlestar Galactica” veteran Mary McDonnell and a number of “Closer” cast members, premieres in August. Sedgwick won’t be among them, swapping Brenda’s syrupy “thank yew” for an upbeat “buh-bye now” to her co-workers.

• Wey, Wye, wey, wye

• yewwe

Cognate with Shilluk áryew, Belanda Bor arɛw, Southwestern Dinka reu, Dinka rou.

yew

1. two

yew

1. Alternative form of yow

yew (plural yêw)

1. house

• R. Blench, Beboid Comparative

From Middle English yew, from Old English īw, ēow, from Proto-West Germanic *īhu.

• IPA^(key): /juː/
• Homophone: yowe

yew

1. The portion of the ridge taken by each reaper in harvest.
2. The same laid in rows for binding into sheaves.

• Kathleen A. Browne (1927) The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Sixth Series, Vol.17 No.2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, page 134

From Proto-Indo-Iranian *Haywas.

yew

1. one