Wiktionary

sew

English

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English sewen, seowen, sowen, from Old English siwian, seowian, seowan (“to sew, mend, patch, knit together, link, unite”), from Proto-Germanic *siwjaną (“to sew”), from Proto-Indo-European *syewh₁- (“to sew”). Cognate with Scots sew (“to sew”), North Frisian saie, sei (“to sew”), Saterland Frisian säie (“to sew”), Danish sy, Polish szyć, Russian шить (šitʹ), Swedish sy, Latin suō, Sanskrit सीव्यति (sī́vyati). Related to seam.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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sew (third-person singular simple present sews, present participle sewing, simple past sewed, past participle sewn or sewed or (obsolete) sewen)

  1. (transitive) To use a needle to pass thread repeatedly through (pieces of fabric) in order to join them together.
    Balls were first made of grass or leaves held together by strings, and later of pieces of animal skin sewn together and stuffed with feathers or hay.
  2. (intransitive) To use a needle to pass thread repeatedly through pieces of fabric in order to join them together.
  3. (transitive) Followed by into: to enclose by sewing.
    to sew money into a bag
Conjugation
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Conjugation of sew
infinitive (to) sew
present tense past tense
1st-person singular sew sewed
2nd-person singular sew, sewest† sewed, sewedst†
3rd-person singular sews, seweth† sewed
plural sew
subjunctive sew sewed
imperative sew —
participles sewing sewn, sewed, sewen†

†Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • → Akolet: sewim
Translations
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Etymology 2

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Back-formation from sewer (“a drain”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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sew (third-person singular simple present sews, present participle sewing, simple past and past participle sewed)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To drain the water from.
    • 1573, Thomas Tusser, Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie‎[2], volume 8, page 40:
      Now geld with the gelder the ram and the bul, / sew ponds, amend dammes, and sel webster thy wul
    • c. 1700, John Evelyn, chapter 9, in Elysium Britannicum, Or the Royal Gardens‎[3], published 1998, page 183:
      […] accommodated a sluce to clense and sew the Pond, with a grate of wood to let out the wast, as in other stews and Vivaries.
    • 1713, Roger North, A discourse of fish and fish-ponds‎[4]:
      If the Bank of a Pond sews, it will preserve the Fish in Frost; the Reason, as I imagine, is, because where the Water sews out, the Air will bubble in, which relieves the Fish; or perhaps it might put the Water into some Degree of Motion.
  2. (nautical) Of a ship, to be grounded.
    • 1962, Theory and Practice of Seamanship‎[5], page 236:
      The upward reaction of the keel blocks may be considered as a negative weight in a moment calculation, producing a decrease in the ship's stability, and it is most important that the vessel remains stable until she takes the blocks along the full length of her keel, i.e. when she is sewed, for until this moment the side shores cannot be successfully rigged.
    • 2008, William Henry Smyth, The Sailor's Word‎[6]:
      A ship resting upon the ground, where the water has fallen, so as to afford no hope of floating until lightened, or the return tide floats her, is said to be sewed, by as much as the difference between the surface of the water, and the ship's floating-mark.

Etymology 3

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From Middle English sew (“broth”), from Old English sēaw (“sap, juice”), from Proto-West Germanic *sauw.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sew (plural sews)

  1. (obsolete) Broth, gravy.
    • c. 1555, John Lacy, “For to make Frumente”, in Wyl Bucke His Teſtament‎[7], London: Wyllam Copland:
      And than as for other Potages, ſtued Trypys, yt is dight redy. And than for to make the Numbleis in ſewe […]
    • 1597, William Warner, chapter XXIIII, in Albions England a continued hiſtorie of the ſame kingdome […] ‎[8], volume Book V, London: Ioan Broome, page 121:
      At Ewle we wonten gambole, daunce, to carrole, and to ſing, To haue gud ſpiced Sewe, and Roſte, and plum-pies for a King […]
    • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XX.] Chap. XVI..”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 63:
      If a thicke grewell or ſew be made thereof, together with floure, oile, and vinegre, ſo tempered as it may be ſupped […]
Derived terms
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Anagrams

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Middle English

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Etymology 1

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From Old English sēaw, from Proto-West Germanic *sauw.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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sew (uncountable)

  1. broth, gravy (liquid or sauce for boiling)
  2. (Early Middle English) sap, juice (of a plant)
Descendants
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  • English: sew (obsolete)
References
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Etymology 2

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Noun

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sew

  1. Alternative form of sowe
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