Forms: 1 iuu, iw, eow, eoh, 4–7 ewe, 4–8 ew, (4 w, hw, hue, 5 hew, uu, uv, new), 5–6 u, 5–7 eu, 6 yeue, yue, yow(e, iewe, eughe, u(g)he, 6–7 ewgh, 6–8 ugh, yeugh, eugh, 7 yugh, yewgh, eue, 6– yew. Also 6 veiwe, 6–7 vewe, 7– view, etc.: see VEW. [OE. íw, éow, late éoh, str. masc., corresp., with consonant-alternation and variation of gender, to OS. îh, pl. îchas, MLG., MDu. îwe, iewe, uwe, OHG. îuu, îuui str. masc., îuua wk. fem., îga str. fem. (MHG. îwe, îbe, G. eibe, Swiss dial. îche, îge), ON. ýr (chiefly, bow):— OTeut. *īhwaz, *īʓwaz, *īhwō, *īʓwō. (F. if, Sp. iva, med.L. ivus, are from Germanic; (M)Du. ijf is ad. F. if.)
Related obscurely to the Germanic forms are: OIr. eo. W. ywen, Cornish hivin, Breton iven, going back to OCeltic *ivos; Lith. jēvà, Lett. ēwa black alder (OPruss. iuwis, Lett. iwe yew, are from MLG.); OSl. (Russ., Serb.) iva willow.]
1. A tree of the genus Taxus (N. O. Coniferæ) widely distributed in the North Temperate Zone, esp. T. baccata, the common yew of Europe and Asia, having heavy elastic wood and dense dark-green foliage; often planted in churchyards, and regarded as symbolic of sadness.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (Hessels), T 15. Taxus, iuu.
985. Charter of Æðelred, in Kemble, Cod. Dipl., III. 218. Of wænhyrste on ðone ealde iw; ðonone of ðon iwe to Lullan setle.
a. 1000. Riddles, lvi. 9. Þær wæs hlin & ac & se hearda iw & se fealwa holen.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 139/14. Ornus, eow.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Rel. Ant., II. 82/2. Eye, w [Arundel MS., if, ew].
c. 1340. Nominale (Skeat), 667. Hw, rosetre and hawetre.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 2065. Mapul, thorn, bech, hasel, Ew, whippeltre.
a. 1400. Gloss., in Rel. Ant., I. Taxus, ewe.
1535. in E. Law, Hampton Crt. Pal. (1885), 372. Treys of Yow, Sypers, Genaper, and Bayes.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 150. The berries of the Italian Ughe.
1587. Mascall, Govt. Cattle, Oxen (1596), 36. Yeugh is euill for cattell to eate.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., II. iii. 107. They told me they would binde me heere, Vnto the body of a dismall yew.
1612. Webster, White Devil, I. ii. 262. Under that Eu, As I sat sadly leaning on a grave.
1625. Bacon, Ess., Gardens (Arb.), 555. Iuniper; Cipresse Trees; Eugh.
1663. Cowley, Verses on Sev. Occas., Complaint, 4. Beneath a Bow’r for sorrow made,… Of the black Yew’s unlucky green.
1699. Garth, Dispens., II. 11. Beneath the gloomy Covert of an Eugh.
1706. Hearne, Coll. (O.H.S.), I. 223. Robinson … pull’d up some of ys Ews. Ibid. (1715), V. 39. Some say that tis to be planted with Ugh, dwarf Ughs.
1750. Johnson, Rambler, No. 44. I threw myself beneath a blasted yeugh.
1799. J. Robertson, Agric. Perth, 478. Ews 6 [feet in circumference].
1872. Oliver, Elem. Bot., II. 247. The wood of the Yew is said never to be attacked by insects.
b. The wood of this tree, esp. as the material of bows.
a. 1400. King & Hermit, 199. Wyth a bow of hue full strong And arowys knyte in a thong.
1524. Test. Ebor. (Surtees), V. 177. A bowe of u.
1530. Palsgr., 234/1. Iewe wode to make bowes, hyf. Ibid., 291/2. Yowe to make bowes of, hyf.
1545. Ascham, Toxoph. (Arb.), 113. Ewe of all other thynges, is that, wherof perfite shootyng woulde haue a bowe made.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 9. The Eugh obedient to the benders will.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., III. ii. 117. Their Bowes Of double fatall Eugh.
1619. Drayton, Odes, xvii. 73. With Spanish Ewgh so strong, Arrowes a Clothyard long.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 18 April 1680. One roome parquetted with yew, which I lik’d well.
1805. Scott, Last Minstr., III. xx. My bow of yew to a hazel wand.
1899. E. J. Chapman, Drama of Two Lives, Snake-Witch, 32. The chevron bands that edg’d the floor All shapely set in oak and yew.
c. Branches or sprigs of the tree, esp. as symbols of sadness.
c. 1450. in Aungier, Syon (1840), 349. Two bysoms made of boxe and ewe.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial (MS. Claud. A. II. lf. 52). We have non olyre þat beruth grene leves, we takon in stede of hit hew and palmes wyth, and beruth abowte on procession.
1547. Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden), 29. Yeve and candelles at Ester to hange in the churche.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., II. iv. 56. My shrowd of white, stuck all with Ew.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, IV. 731. Sad Cypress, Vervain, Eugh, compose the Wreath.
1820. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., IV. 16. Strew, oh, strew Hair, not yew! Wet the dusty pall with tears, not dew!
¶ d. Applied to some flowering plants.
1653. R. Sanders, Physiogn., Pref. b 2. The flowers of plants having the resemblance of Butterflies…; as our English Gandergoose, the flower of Beans, Woodbine, Ew, and Ragwort.
1674. trans. Scheffer’s Lapland, 141. The thin leaved heath, that bears a Berry, which some call ground Ewe.
2. A bow made of the wood of the yew.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. IV. Handicrafts, 490. Through a Forrest Tubal (with his Yew And ready quiver) did a Boar pursue.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, IX. 854. At the full stretch of both his Hands, he drew, And almost join’d the Horns of the tough Eugh.
a. 1718. Prior, Henry & Emma, 345. To send the Arrow from the twanging Yew.
1728. Ramsay, Archers diverting themselves, 13. To see them draw the bended yew.
1817. Scott, Harold, II. iii. When from Wulfstane’s bended yew Sprung forth the grey-goose shaft.
3. attrib. and Comb., as yew-berry, -bough, -flat, -hedge, -leaf, -stock, -wood; made of yew-wood, as yew-bow, -panel; yew-besprinkled, -crested, -hedged, -leaved, -roofed adjs. See also YEW-TREE.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 350. Do him þis to læcedome … *eowberʓe … ofʓeot mid ealaþ.
1768. G. White, Selborne, To Pennant, 8 Oct. The ousel … fed on yew-berries.
1820. Keats, Melancholy, i. Make not your rosary of yew-berries.
1851. G. Meredith, Love in the Valley, vii. Threading it with colour, like yewberries the yew.
1858. Morris, Earthly Par., Man born to be King, 1479. The feet of the long *yew-besprinkled hill. Ibid. (1867), Jason, VII. 137. She … to a *yew-bough made the boat’s head fast.
1558. Nottingham Rec., IV. 123. A dosyn of *ewe bowes.
[1622. Inv. (Nottingham), in N. & Q., 1st Ser. VI. 10/1. Foure Spanishe viewe bowes.]
1727. Somerville, Yeoman of Kent, 9. Bow-men … Whose good yew-bows, and sinews strong, Drew arrows of a cloth-yard long.
1860. Longf., Wayside Inn, K. Olaf, XX. i. From his yew-bow, tipped with silver, Flew the arrows fast.
1814. Scott, Flora Macivor’s Song, xi. The *yew-crested bonnet o’er tresses of grey!
a. 1763. Shenstone, Ess. Men & Mann., Wks. 1777, II. 116. Lord D—’s high shorn *yew-edges.
1777. Mrs. Thrale, Lett. to Johnson, 18 Sept. A spirit of innovation has however reached even these at last…. A yew hedge, or an eugh hedge if you will.
1832. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. V. Christmas Amusem., 105. From the yew-hedge to the fountain.
1830. Scott, Doom of Devorgoil, I. i. The *yew-hedged garden.
1688. Holme, Armoury, II. 80/1. He beareth Argent, a *Yew leaf slipped.
1731. Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Abies, The Silver, or *Yew-leav’d Fire Tree.
1776. Withering, Bot. Arrangem., I. 680. Yew-leaved Feathermoss.
a. 1691. Aubrey, Wilts (Royal Soc. MS.), 263 (Halliw.). With box and *ewgh pannells of about six inches square.
1897. A. De Vere, in Ld. Tennyson, Tennyson, I. xiii. 293. The *yew-roofed cloister of Muckross.
1483. Cath. Angl., 118. An *Ev stok, taxum.
1613. Holmesfield Crt. Rolls, in Sheffield Gloss. (1888), Addenda s.v. Ewe forth, *Ewe Wood.
1830. Tennyson, Oriana, 19. In the yew-wood black as night.
