Meanings
glew1
- dialectalpastsimple past of glow
glew2
plural glews
- countableobsoleteuncountableObsolete form of glue.
When the painting is originally on wood, it must be first detached from the ceiling or wainscot where it was fixed; and the surface of it covered with a linen cloth, cemented to it by means of glew[…]
1764, Edmund Burke, Dodsley's annual register: Volume 1758, Part 1, page 385 - countableobsoleteuncountableObsolete form of solder, used in alchemy.
1 more example
Now Gold is easily associated to and with Copper; and so fit a cuspe, or point made of Gold to this Cupreous Iron; and with Borax and Golden Solidature or Soder (Gold Glew, which is made of Copper Money, a little Silver and Gold melted at the Eye is better) melt it after the accustomed manner, in a fitting Coal-fire, and then you shall have the Golden Nail so much spoken of.
1677, Otto Tachenius, Hippocrates Chymicus, pages 113-114
Origin
glew · verb
- Old Englishglōwan“to glow”
- Old Englishglēow“glowed”
- Middle Englishglew
- Englishglew
Either formed on the analogy of know, grow (and other verbs which are now weak in the standard such as crow, mow) or inherited from Middle English glew, glewe (“glowed”), in turn from Old English glēow (“glowed”), past tense of Old English glōwan (“to glow”).
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →glew · noun
- Middle Englishglew
- Englishglew
From Middle English glew, glu, etc.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Sounds the same
Cite this entry
glew. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glew
“glew.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glew. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “glew,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glew.
Source: glew on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.