Yew-tree

= YEW sb. 1.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. clxi. (1495), V j/1. An Ewe tree … is a tree with venim & poyson.

c. 1425.  Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 646/13. Hec taxus, hawtre [sic], newtre.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 507/2. V tree (K. uv tre), taxus.

1538.  Turner, Libellus, Taxus, an Vhe tre.

1593.  in N. & Q., 1st Ser. (1852), VI. 64/1. Itm. for leadinge of earthe to y^e benche about the yewe tree,… ij^s. iiij^d.

1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 554. The rotten part of Eue-tree.

1612.  Webster, White Devil, I. ii. 261. Into a church-yard, where a goodly Eu tree Spred her large roote in ground.

a. 1697.  Aubrey, Surrey (1718), III. 46. In this Church-Yard is an Ew-Tree, ten Yards in Compass.

1750.  Gray, Elegy, iv. Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree’s shade, where heaves the turf in many a mould’ring heap.

1814.  Scott, Ld. of Isles, V. xix. The yew-tree lent its shadow dark.

1864.  Tennyson, En. Ard., 732. An ancient evergreen, A yewtree.

  attrib. and Comb.  1688.  Holme, Armoury, II. 52/1. He beareth Argent, a Yew Tree Branch Fructed.

1845.  R. S. Surtees, Hillingdon Hall, x. 145. A massive yew-tree-lined walk.

1866.  Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, Introd. 4. Its untidy kitchen-garden and cone-shaped yew-tree arbour.

1889.  Science-Gossip, XXV. 118/2. The poisonous nature of yew-tree leaves.

  Hence Yew-tree’d a., planted with yew-trees.

1872.  Mrs. A. Gatty, Bk. Sun-dials, Introd. p. xxii. The quaint yew-tree’d garden.