Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of several poisonous evergreen trees or shrubs of the genus Taxus, having scarlet cup-shaped arils and flat needles that are dark green above and yellowish below.
- n. The wood of any of these trees, especially the durable, fine-grained wood of the Old World species Taxus baccata, used in cabinetmaking and for archery bows.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A tree of the genus Taxus, the common yew being T. baccata of temperate Europe and Asia. This is a slow-growing and long-lived evergreen of moderate height and spreading habit, with a thick irregular trunk and dark thick foliage. In Europe the yew has long been planted in graveyards. There are several dwarf, weeping, and variegated varieties. The golden yew has the edge of the leaves in spring of a bright-golden yellow. The Irish yew (var. fastigiata) has erect branches, and is more hardy than the typical form, which will not endure the winter in the northern United States. The wood of the yew is heavy, fine-grained, and elastic, and was formerly much used for bows, the supply being protected by government. It is considered a very choice cabinet-wood, the heart being of a fine orange-red or deep brown, and the sap-wood white. The leaves of the tree are poisonous.
- n. The wood of the yew-tree.
- n. A shooting-bow made of the wood of the yew.
- n. A jug or jar having a handle extending over the mouth.
- To rise as scum on brine in boiling; yaw.
Wiktionary
- n. 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.
- n. countable, by extension Any tree or shrub of the genus Taxus.
- n. uncountable The wood of the yew.
- adj. Made from the wood of the yew tree.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. See yaw.
- n. (Bot.) An evergreen tree (Taxus baccata) of Europe, allied to the pines, but having a peculiar berrylike fruit instead of a cone. It frequently grows in British churchyards.
- n. The wood of the yew. It is light red in color, compact, fine-grained, and very elastic. It is preferred to all other kinds of wood for bows and whipstocks, the best for these purposes coming from Spain.
- n. A bow for shooting, made of the yew.
- adj. Of or pertaining to yew trees; made of the wood of a yew tree.
WordNet 3.0
- n. wood of a yew; especially the durable fine-grained light brown or red wood of the English yew valued for cabinetwork and archery bows
- n. any of numerous evergreen trees or shrubs having red cup-shaped berries and flattened needlelike leaves
Etymologies
- From Middle English ew, from Old English īw, ēow, from Proto-Germanic *īwaz (compare Icelandic ýr), masculine variant of *īwō (compare Dutch ijf, German Eibe), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eiH-u̯eh₂ (compare Hittite (eja, "type of evergreen"), Welsh yw ("yews"), Lithuanian ievà ("bird cherry"), Russian ива (íva, "willow")). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old English īw. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“March 31, 2008 at 4:15 pm jus jumps rite in an maik yrselfs at home……..yew cant do lolspeak rong! yew can eats anyting yew laik and majic!”
Its called Food - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
“May 27, 2008 at 5:02 pm noes….akshully, ifn yew luuk clossely…..yew wil see he awlreddy haz himz jazz pawz owt !”
Hello my baby, - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
“*nice wurdpress, yew is a nyce stoopy program, we lubs yew*”
Driving a Jaguar - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
“Yew trust me, and yew'll find plenty of room; but if yew don't feel quite comf'table, if I was yew I'd just lie off for a bit while you send in one of your boats and Squire First Lieutenant there, to see what it's like, and the sooner the better, for the sun's getting low, and as I dessay yew know better than I can tell _yew_, it ain't long after the sun sinks before it's tidy dark.”
“ai fot mebbe yew wuz nawt happitail wit me 4 sum reason……… mebbe we is jus online at diffrunt times…… *wispurrrr…… ai miss yew*”
well would you look at that. - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
“an waz be-in heer awn ICHC dat saveded me, ebben tho waz yeerz affer teh fak, an ifn yew iz nawt in teh yahoo groop ov cheezfrenz ….go an be wun, yew can letz owf stem, an dey can gib yew lowtz ov guud advise, iz wun smart groop…..yew hav frenz ….guud wunz hoo yew kan trun ew fer teh helpz ….”
Launch sequnce initiated! - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
“` ` Why, my goot Master Oldenbuck, you will only laugh at me --- But de hand of glory is vary well known in de countries where your worthy progenitors did live --- and it is hand cut off from a dead man, as has been hanged for murther, and dried very nice in de shmoke of juniper wood; and if you put a little of what you call yew wid your juniper, it will not be any better”
“Kin yew say “vague” and “overbroad,” boys and girls?”
“The bark of certain yew trees can yield a medicine that fights cancer.”
“a little of what you call yew wid your juniper, it will not be any better -- that is, it will not be no worse -- then you do take something of de fatsh of de bear, and of de badger, and of de great eber, as you call de grand boar, and of de little sucking child as has not been christened”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘yew’.
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3-letter Scrabble Words
aah, aal, aas, aba, abo, abs, aby, ace, act, add, ado, ads and 995 more...
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3 Letter Words
A list of English words that are three letters long.
ace, act, ade, ado, add, ads, age, ago, ail, air, aim, all and 397 more...
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Ancient Influence
Words that inspire a feeling of old and/or mythical influences.
Ogham, sward, willow, hazel, yew, holly, barrow, runes, sepulchre, rill, rivulet, heft and 26 more...
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Baltimorese
Words, phrases, and peculiar pronunciations favored by Baltimore locals (Baltimorons).
baltimoron, cigrette, warsh, bawlmer, merryland, wooder, fahr, arhn, tarred, zinc, arnjoos, leginament and 21 more...
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colleen's words
yellow, green, pie, blue, fur, people, incense, book, brown, avuncular, mountain, fog and 1316 more...
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exlotuseater's Words
autocthonous, anacoluthon, benthic, bactrian, caryatid, chiastic, dryad, dromedary, effulgent, elixir, fricative, fungible and 145 more...
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zzyyxx's Words
plethora, drout, functional, rye, wring, doubt, cognative, weird, gnaw, surcease, rend, languish and 438 more...
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A Parthian Shot: Archery Words
Just what it says. Archery rocks.
bow, arrow, longbow, crossbow, barebow, recurve, compound bow, flight, arrowhead, nock, feather, yew and 197 more...
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je les adore!
fusillade, foal, celestial, abattoir, byzantium, berlin, casablanca, babylon, balkans, albion, avalon, between the devil... and 471 more...
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Trees!
mahogany, sequoia, balsa, sandalwood, tamarind, balsam, eucalyptus, birch, willow, buttonwood, evergreen, loblolly and 501 more...
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Hampsteader's list
Just some words i like . . .
bilkirkegaard, frost, flaxen, snow, quoin, quern, westering, deer, antler, solstice, autumn, autumnal and 114 more...
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TheLastGoodNameLeft
The Last Good Words Left
ephemera, gammon, errata, ellipses, octopi, heteronormative, polyp, intersectionality, theses, california, halfback, fullback and 555 more...
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Flora and Fauna
poa annua, pooka, vole, bestiary, popple, turgor, starling, sharpy, copse, coreopsis, clove, corvid and 351 more...
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2008 Wordlist
Hopefully, I'll be using this site for more than one year. It will be fun then to look back and see what new words I found worthy of notice in any given year.
All words spotted in 2008...longanimity, permalancer, breeder, biodegradable, handicapable, gender-neutral, translator, interpreter, translation, interpreting, kleptocracy, fanfiction and 1598 more...
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gorgonglare's list
the best
zeppelin, ion, laconic, serendipity, cataract, saturnine, syzygy, cinnabar, bistro, lithium, paroxysm, scion and 694 more...
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Winter Solstice
Words that have something to do with the holidays that fall on or near the Winter Solstice
Yule, Yule-log, holly, yew, bay, bay-leaf, bayberry, Holly King, Oak King, mistletoe, Christmas tree, star in the East and 150 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for yew.

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