lew

See also: LEW and Lew

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /luː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (dated) IPA^(key): /ljuː/

Etymology 1

A 1266 gold écu issued by Louis IX.

A 1498 gold écu issued by Louis XII.

From corruption of French louis, from Louis, presumably Louis IX or Louis XI, who issued gold écus.

Noun

lew (plural lews or lewis or leois)

1. (Scotland, obsolete) A French gold coin circulated in 15th-century Scotland.
   • 1467, Scottish Acts of James III, Vol. II, p. 88:

     ...þe Ingliss noble, henry, ande Eduarde w^t þe ross, þe franche crowne, þe salute þe lewe and þe Ridar sall haif courss in þis realme...

Alternative forms

• lewe

Etymology 2

From Middle English lew, lewe, from Old English hlēow, hlēowe (“warm, sunny, sheltered”), from Proto-Germanic *hlewaz, *hliwjaz, *hlēwaz (“warm, lukewarm”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱal(w)e-, *ḱlēw- (“warm, hot”). Cognate with Old Norse hlýr (“warm, mild”), ( > Danish ly (“lukewarm”)), hlær, German lau, which are themselves akin to Old Norse hlé (“lee”), Danish læ (“shelter”). Compare lee.

Alternative forms

• lue, loo, looe, lee

Adjective

lew (comparative lewer, superlative lewest)

1. (obsolete) Sunny; warm.
2. (dialect) Lukewarm, tepid.
3. (dialect) Alee: protected from the wind.
   • 1674, J. Ray, "South & East Countrey Words" in Coll. Eng. Words, p. 70:

     Lee or Lew, Calm, under the wind. Suss.

   • 1892, H. C. O'Neill, Devonshire Idyls, page 7:

     His house... was ‘loo’ from the cold north winds.

Usage notes

Now chiefly Southern Scottish and Northern English.

Noun

Sheep sheltering beside a stone wall. Shepherds formerly raised lews—structures of thatch and sticks—for the same purpose.

lew (plural lews)

1. (now Scotland) Warmth, heat.
   • 1605, J. Sylvester translating G. de S. Du Bartas as Deuine Weekes & Wks, Book i, Ch. iv, p. 136:

     To th' end a fruitfull lew
     May euerie Climate in his time renew.

2. (dialect) A shelter from the wind, particularly temporary structures raised by shepherds to protect their flocks.
   • 1825, J. Jennings, Observ. Dial. W. Eng., p. 52:

     Lew, shelter; defence from storms or wind.

   • 1887, W. D. Parish & al., Dictionary of the Kentish Dialect:

     Lew, a thatched hurdle, supported by sticks, and set up in a field to screen lambs, etc. from the wind.

Derived terms

• house-lew

Verb

lew (third-person singular simple present lews, present participle lewing, simple past and past participle lewed)

1. (transitive) To make warm or lukewarm.
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To become warm.
3. (transitive) To shelter from the wind.
   • 1887, W. D. Parish & al., Dictionary of the Kentish Dialect:

     Lew... Those trees will lew the house when they're up-grown.

Etymology 3

Uncertain, but compare Old English ġelewed (“weakness, infirmity”) and limlǣweo (“limb-weak, lame”). Possibly related to Proto-Germanic *laiwą (“damage”); compare Old Norse læ (“venom, bane”).

Adjective

lew (comparative more lew, superlative most lew)

1. Weak.
2. Sickly-looking, pale, wan.
   • c. 1325, "Old Age" in T. Wright & al.'s 1845 Reliquiae Antiquae, Vol. II, p. 211:

     Mi bodi wexit lewe.

Etymology 4

Variant of lo (q.v.).

Interjection

lew

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of lo or look: a cry to look at something.
   • 15th c., “Processus Noe cum filiis [Noah and the Ark]”, in Wakefield Mystery Plays; Re-edited in George England, Alfred W. Pollard, editors, The Towneley Plays (Early English Text Society Extra Series; LXXI), London: […] Oxford University Press, 1897, →OCLC, page 38, lines 507–510:

     hence bot a litill / she commys, lew, lew! / shy bryngys in her bill / som novels new; / Behald! / It is of an olif tre / A branch, thynkys me.

     [She is] not far, she comes, look, look! She brings in her bill something new—behold! It is an olive tree's branch, I think.

Derived terms

• looky-loo

Etymology 5

Variant of lue (q.v.).

Verb

lew (third-person singular simple present lews, present participle lewing, simple past and past participle lewed)

1. (mining, dialect, transitive) Alternative form of lue: to sift, particularly while mining tin or silver.
   • 1674, John Ray, A Collection of English Words, Not Generally Used, page 122:

     Cornwall... The fine [sc. tin] is lewed in a fine sierce.

References

• lew in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
• “lew”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• we'l

Cornish

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *llew, from Latin leō.

Pronunciation

• (Revived Middle Cornish) IPA^(key): [lɛˑʊ]
• (Revived Late Cornish) IPA^(key): [leˑʊ]

Noun

lew m (plural lewyon)

1. lion

Gothic

Romanization

lēw

1. Romanization of 𐌻𐌴𐍅

Kashubian

Lew.

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *lьvъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛf/
• Rhymes: -ɛf
• Syllabification: lew

Noun

lew m animal (female equivalent lwica or lewka or lewina, diminutive lewk)

1. lion (Panthera leo)

References

• Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011) “lew”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎^[1]
• “lew”, in Internetowi Słowôrz Kaszëbsczégò Jãzëka [Internet Dictionary of the Kashubian Language], Fundacja Kaszuby, 2022

Polish

lew

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛf/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛf
• Syllabification: lew
• Homophone: Lew

Etymology 1

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *lьvъ, probably via a Germanic language, from Latin leō. Doublet of Leon.

Noun

lew m animal (female equivalent lwica, diminutive lewek, augmentative lwisko)

1. lion
2. (heraldry) lion

Declension

Declension of lew

	singular	plural
nominative	lew	lwy
genitive	lwa	lwów
dative	lwu	lwom
accusative	lwa	lwy
instrumental	lwem	lwami
locative	lwie	lwach
vocative	lwie	lwy

Derived terms

adjective

• lwi

 

noun

• lwiarnia
• lwię

 

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Bulgarian лев (lev), from Proto-Slavic *lьvъ.

Noun

lew m animal

1. lev (currency of Bulgaria)

Declension

Declension of lew

	singular	plural
nominative	lew	lewy
genitive	lewa	lewów
dative	lewowi	lewom
accusative	lewa	lewy
instrumental	lewem	lewami
locative	lewie	lewach
vocative	lewie	lewy

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

lew f

1. genitive plural of lewa

Further reading

• lew in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• lew in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Sranan Tongo

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch leeuw.

Noun

lew

1. lion

Welsh

Noun

lew

1. Soft mutation of llew.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
llew	lew	unchanged	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Zazaki

lewi

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *leb-, cognate with Persian لب (lab), English lip etc.

Noun

lew

1. (anatomy) lip