lew

plural lews · plural lewis · plural leois · alternative lewe

1. ScotlandobsoleteA French gold coin circulated in 15th-century Scotland.

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

   1467, Scottish Acts of James III, Vol. II, p. 88

comparative lewer · superlative lewest · alternative lue · alternative loo · alternative looe · alternative lee

1. obsoleteSunny; warm.
2. dialectalLukewarm, tepid.
3. dialectalAlee: protected from the wind.

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

   1674, J. Ray, "South & East Countrey Words" in Coll. Eng. Words, p. 70

   1 more example

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

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

plural lews · alternative lue · alternative loo · alternative looe · alternative lee

1. ScotlandWarmth, heat.

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

   1605, J. Sylvester translating G. de S. Du Bartas as Deuine Weekes & Wks, Book i, Ch. iv, p. 136

2. dialectalA shelter from the wind, particularly temporary structures raised by shepherds to protect their flocks.

   Lew, shelter; defence from storms or wind.

   1825, J. Jennings, Observ. Dial. W. Eng., p. 52

   1 more example

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

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

present singular third person lews · participle present lewing · participle past lewed · past lewed · alternative lue · alternative loo · alternative looe · alternative lee

1. transitiveTo make warm or lukewarm.
2. intransitiveobsoleteTo become warm.
3. transitiveTo shelter from the wind.

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

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

comparative more lew · superlative most lew

1. Weak.
2. Sickly-looking, pale, wan.

   Mi bodi wexit lewe.

   c. 1325, "Old Age" in T. Wright & al.'s 1845 Reliquiae Antiquae, Vol. II, p. 211

1. alternativeobsoleteAlternative form of lo or look: a cry to look at something.

   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.

   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

present singular third person lews · participle present lewing · participle past lewed · past lewed

1. alternativedialectaltransitivebusinessAlternative form of lue: to sift, particularly while mining tin or silver.

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

   1674, John Ray, A Collection of English Words, Not Generally Used, page 122

plural Lews

1. A diminutive of the male given name Lewis.
   1. A male given name.

      When Lew Wasserman reinvented the studio system, leadership skills grew harder to find and the number of modern studio conglomerates boiled down to six, as discussed in chapters 15 to 20.

      2019, Douglas Gomery, The Hollywood Studio System: A History, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN

2. A surname.