yew
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: yo͞o
ipa: /juː/
ipa: /jɪʊ̯/
rhymes: -uː
homophone: ewe
homophone: u
homophone: you
homophone: eau
homophone: hew
homophone: hue
homophone: Hugh (h-dropping)
Forms: form: yews
form: ew
Etymology: From Middle English ew, from Old English īw, ēow, assumed to be from Proto-West Germanic *īhu, from Proto-Germanic *īhwaz (compare Icelandic ýr), masculine variant of *īwō (compare Dutch ijf, German Eibe), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyHw-.
See also Hittite 𒄑𒂊𒅀𒀭 (eyan, “type of evergreen”), Welsh yw (“yews”), Irish eo [both cognates of Old English īw, Old English ēow]; and Latgalian īva (“bird cherry”), Lithuanian ievà (“bird cherry”), Russian и́ва (íva, “willow”).
Senses: examples: text: Old Yew, which graspest at the stones
⁠That name the under-lying dead,
⁠Thy fibres net the dreamless head,
Thy roots are wrapt about the bones.
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto II”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
text: Have a tree or two the witches particularly like, such as the alder, larch, cypress and hemlock; then, to counteract any possible evil effects, there must be a holly, yew, hazel, elder, mountain ash or juniper.
ref: 1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 273:
text: At Darley Dale, in Derbyshire, there is another yew about 1,000 years younger with a 32 ft girth, while a mighty yew at Goudhurst, Kent, has a bench seating 12 in its hollow trunk.
ref: 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 119:
synonyms: English yew
European yew
common yew
glosses: 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.
glosses: Any tree or shrub of the genus Taxus.
glosses: Other conifers resembling plants in genus Taxus:
in family Podocarpaceae.
glosses: Other conifers resembling plants in genus Taxus:
in family Cephalotaxaceae.
examples: text: To prevent a too great conſumption of yew, bowyers were directed to make four bows of witch-haſel, aſh or elm, to one of yew, and no perſon under ſeventeen years of age, unleſs poſſeſſed of moveables worth forty marks, or the ſon of parents having an eſtate of ten pounds per annum might ſhoot in an yew bow, under a penalty of 6s. 8d.
ref: 1786, Francis Grose, “Of Offensive Arms, or Weapons”, in A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, […], London: […] S. Hooper, […], →OCLC, pages 37–38:
glosses: The wood of the such trees.
glosses: A bow for archery, made of yew wood.
Derived terms: word: Anglojap yew
taxonomic: Taxus canadensis
word: Canadian yew
taxonomic: Amentotaxus spp.
word: catkin yew
taxonomic: Taxus chinensis
word: Chinese yew
word: Eubank
word: Ewbank
word: European yew
taxonomic: Taxus baccata
word: common yew
taxonomic: Taxus floridana
word: Florida yew
taxonomic: Taxus wallichiana
word: Himalayan yew
taxonomic: Taxus cuspidata
word: Japanese yew
taxonomic: Taxus globosa
word: Mexican yew
word: New Caledonian yew
taxonomic: Austrotaxus spicata
word: southern yew
taxonomic: Torreya spp.
word: nutmeg yew
word: Pacific yew
taxonomic: Taxus brevifolia
word: western yew
word: plum yew
english: Cephalotaxus spp. or Prumnopitys spp.
translation: Cephalotaxus spp. or Prumnopitys spp.
word: plum-yew
taxonomic: Saxegothaea conspicua
word: Prince Albert's yew
word: self-yew
taxonomic: Taxus sumatrana
word: Sumatran yew
taxonomic: Pseudotaxus chienii
word: white-berry yew
word: yew pine