Yew \Yew\ ([=u]), v. i. See Yaw. [1913 Webster]
Yew \Yew\, n. [OE. ew, AS. e['o]w, [imac]w, eoh;
akin to D. ijf, OHG. [imac]wa, [imac]ha, G. eibe, Icel. [=y]r; cf.
Ir. iubhar, Gael. iubhar, iughar, W. yw, ywen, Lith. j["e]va the
black alder tree.] [1913 Webster]
(Bot.) An evergreen tree (Taxus
baccata) of Europe, allied to the pines, but having a peculiar
berrylike fruit instead of a cone. It frequently grows in British
churchyards. [1913 Webster]
The wood of the yew. It is light red in color,
compact, fine-grained, and very elastic. It is preferred to all
other kinds of wood for bows and whipstocks, the best for these
purposes coming from Spain. [1913 Webster] Note: The American yew
(Taxus
baccata, var. Canadensis) is a low and straggling or prostrate
bush, never forming an erect trunk. The California
yew (Taxus
brevifolia, also called Pacific yew)
is a good-sized tree, and its wood is used for bows, spear handles,
paddles, and other similar implements; the anticancer agent
taxol is obtained from its
bark. Another yew is found in Florida, and there are species in
Japan and the Himalayas. [1913 Webster + PJC]
A bow for shooting, made of the yew. [1913
Webster]
Word Net
yewNoun
1 wood of a yew; especially the durable
fine-grained light brown or red wood of the English yew valued for
cabinetwork and archery bows
2 any of numerous evergreen trees or shrubs
having red cup-shaped berries and flattened needlelike leaves
Etymology
īw.Noun
- A tree or shrub of the genus Taxus, with dark-green flat needle like leaves and seeds bearing red arils.
- The wood of the yew.
- Quotations
-
- 1786: To prevent a too great consumption of yew, bowyers were directed to make four bows of witch-hazel, ash or elm, to one of yew, and no person under seventeen years of age, unless possessed of moveables worth forty marks, of the son of parents having an estate of ten pounds per annum might shoot in an yew bow, under a penalty of 6s. 8d. — Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 37.
Synonyms
Translations
tree or shrub
wood of the yew
- Danish: takstræ
- Finnish: marjakuusi
- Hungarian: tiszafa
- Japanese: イチイ, 櫟
- Russian: тис
- Spanish: tejo
- Swedish: idegran , idegransträ
- ttbc Bulgarian: тис (tis)
- ttbc Catalan: [1] teix ^
- ttbc Chinese: 紫杉 (zǐ shān)
- ttbc Estonian: jugapuu
- ttbc French: if
- ttbc German: [1] Eibe ^
- ttbc Italian: tasso
- ttbc Polish: cis
- ttbc Ukrainian: тис (tis)
Adjective
- Made from the wood of the yew tree.
Translations
made from the wood of the yew tree
- Finnish: marjakuusi
- Russian: тисовый (tísovyj)
See also
- pedialite Taxus baccata
Yew may refer to:
Botany
- Any of various coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus
Taxus:
- European Yew or Common Yew (Taxus baccata)
- Pacific Yew or Western Yew (Taxus brevifolia)
- Canadian Yew (Taxus canadensis)
- Chinese Yew (Taxus chinensis)
- Japanese Yew (Taxus cuspidata)
- Florida Yew (Taxus floridana)
- Mexican Yew (Taxus globosa)
- Sumatran Yew (Taxus sumatrana)
- Himalayan Yew (Taxus wallichiana)
- Any of various coniferous plants in the families Taxaceae and
Cephalotaxaceae:
- White-berry Yew (Pseudotaxus chienii)
- New Caledonian Yew or Southern Yew (Austrotaxus spicata)
- Catkin-yew (Amentotaxus sp.)
- Plum-yew (Cephalotaxus sp.)
- Any of the various coniferous plants in the family Podocarpaceae
which are superficially similar to other yews:
- Prince Albert's Yew (Saxegothaea conspicua)
- Plum-yew (Prumnopitys sp.)
Specific trees
- Fortingall Yew, the oldest tree in Europe
Place names
- in Singapore:
- Yew Tee, a district
- Yew Tee MRT Station
- Yew Lian Park
- in the United Kingdom
- Yew Tree, Liverpool
- Yew Tree Tarn, a lake in the Lake District
- Yew Tree, West Bromwich
- Kenn Church, Kenn Pier & Yew Tree Farm SSSI, a Site of Special Scientific Interest
- in the Tmn Bukit Segar, KL, Malaysia
Fictional place names
Novels
- The Rose and the Yew Tree by Agatha Christie
- The Enchanted Island of Yew by L. Frank Baum
People
- Lui Tuck Yew, Singaporean rear admiral
- Lim Yew Hock, Singaporean chief minister
- Lee Kuan Yew, Singaporean prime minister