Definition of "lew"

lew¹

/luː/

noun
plural lews or lewis or leois
1. (Scotland, obsolete) A French gold coin circulated in 15th-century Scotland.
  Quotations
  ...þe Ingliss noble, henry, ande Eduarde wt þe ross, þe franche crowne, þe salute þe lewe and þe Ridar sall haif courss in þis realme...
  1467, Scottish Acts of James III, Vol. II, p. 88

lew²

/luː/

adjective
comparative lewer, superlative lewest
1. (obsolete) Sunny; warm.
2. (dialect) Lukewarm, tepid.
3. (dialect) Alee: protected from the wind.
  Quotations
  Lee or Lew, Calm, under the wind. Suss.
  1674, J. Ray, "South & East Countrey Words" in Coll. Eng. Words, p. 70
  His house... was ‘loo’ from the cold north winds.
  1892, H. C. O'Neill, Devonshire Idyls, page 7
noun
plural lews
1. (now Scotland) Warmth, heat.
  Quotations
  To th' end a fruitfull lewMay euerie Climate in his time renew.
  1605, J. Sylvester translating G. de S. Du Bartas as Deuine Weekes & Wks, Book i, Ch. iv, p. 136
2. (dialect) A shelter from the wind, particularly temporary structures raised by shepherds to protect their flocks.
  Quotations
  Lew, shelter; defence from storms or wind.
  1825, J. Jennings, Observ. Dial. W. Eng., p. 52
  Lew, a thatched hurdle, supported by sticks, and set up in a field to screen lambs, etc. from the wind.
  1887, W. D. Parish & al., Dictionary of the Kentish Dialect
verb
third-person singular simple present lews, present participle lewing, simple past and past participle lewed
1. (transitive) To make warm or lukewarm.
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To become warm.
3. (transitive) To shelter from the wind.
  Quotations
  Lew... Those trees will lew the house when they're up-grown.
  1887, W. D. Parish & al., Dictionary of the Kentish Dialect

lew³

/luː/

adjective
comparative more lew, superlative most lew
1. Weak.
2. Sickly-looking, pale, wan.
  Quotations
  Mi bodi wexit lewe.
  c. 1325, "Old Age" in T. Wright & al.'s 1845 Reliquiae Antiquae, Vol. II, p. 211

lew⁴

/luː/

interjection
1. (obsolete) Alternative form of lo or look: a cry to look at something.
  Quotations
  hence bot a litill / she commys, lew, lew! / shy bryngys in her bill / som novels new; / Behald! / It is of an olif tre / A branch, thynkys me.[She is] not far, she comes, look, look! She brings in her bill something new—behold! It is an olive tree's branch, I think.
  15th c., “Processus Noe cum filiis [Noah and the Ark]”, in Wakefield Mystery Plays; Re-edited in George England, Alfred W. Pollard, editors, The Towneley Plays (Early English Text Society Extra Series; LXXI), London: […] Oxford University Press, 1897, page 38, lines 507–510

lew⁵

/luː/

verb
third-person singular simple present lews, present participle lewing, simple past and past participle lewed
1. (mining, dialect, transitive) Alternative form of lue: to sift, particularly while mining tin or silver.
  Quotations
  Cornwall... The fine [sc. tin] is lewed in a fine sierce.
  1674, John Ray, A Collection of English Words, Not Generally Used, page 122