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Synonyms

mew

1 American  
[myoo] / myu /

noun

  1. the tiny, high-pitched sound a cat or kitten makes.

  2. the characteristic sound a gull makes.

verb (used without object)

  1. to make a mew or emit a similar sound.

mew 2 American  
[myoo] / myu /

noun

  1. a small gull, Larus canus, of Eurasia and northwestern North America.

mew 3 American  
[myoo] / myu /

noun

  1. a cage for hawks, especially while molting.

  2. a pen in which poultry is fattened.

  3. a place of retirement or concealment.

  4. (usually used with a singular verb) mews,

    1. (formerly) an area of stables built around a small street.

    2. a street having small apartments converted from such stables.

verb (used with object)

  1. Archaic. to shut up in or as in a mew; confine; conceal (often followed byup ).

mew 4 American  
[myoo] / myu /

verb (used with or without object)

  1. to shed (feathers); molt.

mew 1 British  
/ mjuː /

noun

  1. a room or cage for hawks, esp while moulting

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. to confine (hawks or falcons) in a shelter, cage, etc, usually by tethering them to a perch

  2. to confine, conceal

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
mew 2 British  
/ mjuː /

verb

  1. (intr) (esp of a cat) to make a characteristic high-pitched cry

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. such a sound

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
mew 3 British  
/ mjuː /

verb

  1. (intr) (of hawks or falcons) to moult

  2. obsolete (tr) to shed (one's covering, clothes, etc)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
mew 4 British  
/ mjuː /

noun

  1. Also called: mew gull.   sea mew.  any seagull, esp the common gull, Larus canus

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • mewer noun

Etymology

Origin of mew1

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English meuen; imitative

Origin of mew2

First recorded in before 900; Middle English; Old English mǣwe; cognate with German Müwe

Origin of mew3

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English mue, from Middle French, akin to muer “to molt”; mew 4

Origin of mew4

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English mewen, from Old French muer “to molt,” from Latin mūtāre “to change”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Right on cue, a single orange cat showed up and mewed.

From Literature

Leftovers to eat were surely better than nothing, but for a whole family to wait in line for scraps, like stray cats mewing at the kitchen door?

From Literature

Short-billed gulls, known as mew gulls until 2021, are omnivorous and highly adaptable.

From Science Daily

Fig slogged into the room with a soft “mew” and then rubbed up against my leg.

From Literature

Chandler Investments Limited claimed the embassy left a rented Wellington mews house without covering cleaning and other costs.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.