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Glite Dictionary
to hew

to hew

8 7.9
To cut or shape wood with a heavy sharp tool like an axe
  • verb
  • /hjuː/
translation icon : tallar
  • In the southern part of the city, stonemasons proudly hew Buddha figures from alabaster and marble.

Examples

  • George is hewing a beam as Robin watches from a chair.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The carpenter may hew down a tree and work with it as he needs or pleases.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Send him to the forest to hew fresh timbers for the walls.

    The New World (2005)

  • I hewed out a tiny sailing canoe, and was swept out to sea by some great current.

    Robinson Crusoe (1954)

  • A five-foot-wide stack of hand-hewed beams is piled pyramid style, making movement in the room next to impossible.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The carpenter used an axe to hew the logs into suitable beams for the cabin.

  • He began to hew the large block of wood into a beautiful sculpture.

  • After hours of labor, she managed to hew a path through the dense underbrush.

Synonyms

to saw
vsto hew
85 1.0

To cut wood using a tool with a thin toothed blade

uses heavy edged hand tools like an axe rather than a toothed blade
to jigsaw
vsto hew
1 4.6

To cut shapes in wood with a small electric saw

focuses on cutting with heavy hand tools for broad shaping not fine curves
to hew out
vsto hew
7.3

Cut a piece of wood or stone into a shape with a tool like an axe

is the single-word form for the same cutting or shaping action
to rough-hew
vsto hew
  • Specialized
9.9

To shape wood or stone without smoothing the surface

is used for cutting or shaping without focusing on roughness
to whipsaw
vsto hew
  • Archaic
9.9

To cut wood by two people pulling a long saw back and forth

is done with heavy single tools like axes not with a long team blade

Phrasal Verbs

to hew out
7.3

Cut a piece of wood or stone into a shape with a tool like an axe

to rough-hew
  • Specialized
9.9

To shape wood or stone without smoothing the surface

How Forceful

to hew
8 7.9
to chop
193 1.0
to carve
272 2.1
to slice
203 1.0
to pare
3 4.8

Surface Forms

hew infinitive
hewing present participle
hews third person singular
hewed past
hewn past participle

Etymology

Hew comes from an old English verb heawan, which meant 'to cut' or 'to chop'. So to hew wood is to cut or shape it with a heavy tool like an axe, and that is why we talk about someone 'hewing a canoe' or 'hewing logs'.