name
Meaning 1
A surname from Middle English.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
thew
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Received-Pronunciation: /θjuː/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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General-American: /θ(j)u/
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rhymes with -uː
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CMU ARPABET: TH UW1 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
An attractive physical attribute; also, physical, mental, or moral strength or vigour.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: also, archaic, figuratively, in-plural
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
An aspect of the body which indicates physical strength; hence, muscle and/or sinew; muscular development.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: also, archaic, figuratively, in-plural
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
A way of behaving; hence, a characteristic, a trait.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: in-plural, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A good characteristic or habit; a virtue.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: in-plural, obsolete, specifically
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 6
To instruct (someone) in morals or values; also (more generally) to chastise or discipline (someone); to teach or train (someone).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From Middle English thew (“thrall, slave”).
From Middle English theu, thew (“way of behaving towards others, bearing, manners; habit, practice; good manners, courtesy; characteristic act; characteristic, trait; custom, tradition; established rule, ordinance; injunction; moral character; (in the plural) set of moral principles, morals; moral quality, virtue or vice; might, power, strength”) [and other forms] (often in the plural form theus, thewes), from Old English þēaw (“general practice of a community, custom, usage; mode of conduct, behaviour, manner; (in the plural) customs, virtue”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *þauw, from Proto-Germanic *þawwaz (“custom; habit”); further etymology uncertain, tentatively identified by the Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen (Etymological Dictionary of Old High German) as a reflex of an s-less variant of Proto-Indo-European *(s)tāu-, *(s)te- (“to stand; to place”), from *steh2- (“to stand (up)”). Cognates * Old Frisian thāw * Old High German dau, thau (“coercion; discipline; tuition”) * Old Saxon thau (“custom, usage; habit”)
From Middle English theuen, thewe (“to instruct in morals or values; to teach, train”) [and other forms], from theu, thew (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitives of verbs).
Across languages
Translations
2 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Polish: siła — attractive physical attribute; physical, mental, or moral strength or vigour
- Polish: muskulatura — aspect of the body which indicates physical strength; muscle and/or sinew; muscular development