mew

noun

1. (archaic, dialectal, poetic)A gull, seagull.

   “A daungerous and detestable place, To which nor fish nor fowle did once approch, But yelling Meawes, with Seagulles hoarse and bace […]”

   “From helm to sea they saw him leap, As arrow from the string, And dive into the water deep, As mew upon the wing.”

2. (obsolete)A prison, or other place of confinement.
3. (obsolete)A hiding place; a secret store or den.

   “Ne toung did tell, ne hand these handled not, / But safe I haue them kept in secret mew, / From heauens sight, and powre of all which them pursew.”

4. (obsolete)A breeding-cage for birds.
5. A cage for hawks, especially while moulting.

   “A horse in a stable that never travels, a hawk in a mew that seldom flies, are both subject to diseases; which, left unto themselves, are most free from any such encumbrances.”

6. (in-plural)A building or set of buildings where moulting birds are kept.
7. The crying sound of a cat; a meow, especially of a kitten.
8. The crying sound of a gull or buzzard.
9. (obsolete)An exclamation of disapproval; a boo.

verb

1. (archaic)To shut away, confine, lock up.

   “More pity that the eagle should be mew’d, While kites and buzzards prey at liberty.”

   “To mew me in a Ship, is to inthrall Mee in a prison, that weare like to fall;”

   “1693, John Dryden (translator), The Satires of Juvenal, London: Jacob Tonson, Satire 1, p. 10, […] Nay some have learn’d the trick To beg for absent persons; feign them sick, Close mew’d in their Sedans, for fear of air:”

   “When it came to his turn to mention Sir John Sparkle, he represented him as a man of an immense estate and narrow disposition, who mewed up his only child, a fine young lady, from the conversation of mankind, under the strict watch and inspection of an old governante, who was either so honest, envious, or insatiable, that nobody had been as yet able to make her a friend, or get access to her charge, though numbers attempted it every day […]”

   “[…] it was all very well for Orlando to mew herself in her house at Blackfriars and pretend that the climate was the same […]”

2. To moult.

   “The hawk mewed his feathers.”

   “Their nakedneſſe with ſackcloth let them hide, / And mue the veſt'ments of their ſilken pride; […]”

   “Nine times the moon had mewed her horns […]”

3. (obsolete)To cause to moult.
4. (obsolete)To shed antlers.
5. (especially)To meow.
6. To make its cry.
7. (intransitive, slang)To flatten one's tongue against the roof of the mouth, with the aim of improving jaw and facial structure.

intj

1. A cat's (especially a kitten's) cry.
2. A gull's or buzzard's cry.
3. (archaic)An exclamation of disapproval; boo.

name

1. A surname.

   “Darren James Mew”