dew
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: note: yod-coalescence
ipa: /d͡ʒuː/
note: without the yod-coalescence
ipa: /djuː/
note: yod-dropping
ipa: /duː/
ipa: /dɪu̯/
homophone: due
homophone: do
homophone: doo (yod-dropping)
homophone: Jew (yod-coalescence)
Forms: form: dews
Etymology: From Middle English dew, from Old English dēaw (“dew”), from Proto-West Germanic *dauw, from Proto-Germanic *dawwaz, *dawwą (“dew, moisture”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“smoke, haze”).
Cognate with German Tau, Dutch dauw and Afrikaans dou. Doublet of dag.
Senses: glosses: Any moisture from the atmosphere condensed by cool bodies upon their surfaces.
examples: text: And Gideon said vnto God, If thou wilt saue Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,
Beholde, I will put a fleece of wooll in the floore: and if the deaw be on the fleece onely, and it bee drie vpon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt saue Israel by my hande, as thou hast said.
And it was so: for he rose vp early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the deaw out of the fleece, a bowle full of water.
And Gideon said vnto God, Let not thine anger be hote against me, and I will speake but this once: Let mee prooue, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece. Let it now be drie onely vpon the fleece, and vpon all the ground let there be deaw.
And God did so that night: for it was drie vpon the fleece onely, and there was deaw on all the ground.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Judges 6:36–40:
text: As therefore the morning devv, is a pavvne of the evenings fatneſſe, ſo, O Lord, let this daies comfort be the earneſt of to morrowes, […]
ref: 1624, John Donne, “19. Prayer”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC, page 508:
text: Tree don't care what the little bird sings / We go down with the dew in the morning light / The tree don't know what the little bird brings / We go down with the dew in the morning
ref: 2013, “We No Who U R”, in Warren Ellis, Nick Cave (lyrics), Push the Sky Away, performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds:
synonyms: word: rore
glosses: Moisture in the air that settles on plants, etc in the morning or evening, resulting in drops.
examples: text: There was a heavy dew this morning.
text: On their entrance, Aylmer was greeted by a new surprise—his daughter Lucy, whom he very naturally supposed was quietly in her bed, lay on the window-seat, the casement open, and herself asleep; but the traces of tears were upon her cheek, and her long fair hair loose, and yet saturated with the dews of the night.
ref: 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter X, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 72:
qualifier: but see usage notes
glosses: An instance of such moisture settling on plants, etc.
examples: text: the golden dew of sleep
ref: c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
glosses: Anything that falls lightly and in a refreshing manner.
examples: text: Thy people ſhalbe willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holineſſe from the wombe of the morning: thou haſt the dew of thy youth.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 110:3:
text: the dew of his youth
ref: 1858 October 16, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Courtship of Miles Standish”, in The Courtship of Miles Standish, and Other Poems, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC:
glosses: An emblem of morning, or fresh vigour.
Derived terms: dewberry
dewcap
dewclaw
dewclawed
dew computing
dew-drink
dewdrop
dew-eyed
dew-fall
dewfall
dewless
dewlike
dew point
dew poison
dewret
dewretting
dewshine
dew water
dewworm
honeydew
mountain dew
peppadew
sundew