Dew Meaning
/d͡ʒuː/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAny moisture from the atmosphere condensed by cool bodies upon their surfaces.
nounMoisture in the air that settles on plants, etc in the morning or evening, resulting in drops.
Sentence Examples
The hut kept the rain and dew out after a fashion.
Dew has formed on the lawn.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The morning ____ glistened on the grass after a cold night.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The hut kept the rain and ____ out after a fashion.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English dew, from Old English dēaw (“dew”), from Proto-West Germanic *dauw, from Proto-Germanic *dawwaz, *dawwą (“dew, moisture”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“smoke, haze”). Cognate with German Tau, Dutch dauw and Afrikaans dou. Doublet of dag.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"And Gideon said vnto God, If thou wilt saue Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,
Beholde, I will put a fleece of wooll in the floore: and if the deaw be on the fleece onely, and it bee drie vpon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt saue Israel by my hande, as thou hast said.
And it was so: for he rose vp early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the deaw out of the fleece, a bowle full of water.
And Gideon said vnto God, Let not thine anger be hote against me, and I will speake but this once: Let mee prooue, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece. Let it now be drie onely vpon the fleece, and vpon all the ground let there be deaw.
And God did so that night: for it was drie vpon the fleece onely, and there was deaw on all the ground."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Judges 6:36–40:
"As therefore the morning devv, is a pavvne of the evenings fatneſſe, ſo, O Lord, let this daies comfort be the earneſt of to morrowes, […]"
— 1624, John Donne, “19. Prayer”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC, page 508:
"Tree don't care what the little bird sings / We go down with the dew in the morning light / The tree don't know what the little bird brings / We go down with the dew in the morning"
— 2013, “We No Who U R”, in Warren Ellis, Nick Cave (lyrics), Push the Sky Away, performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds:
"On their entrance, Aylmer was greeted by a new surprise—his daughter Lucy, whom he very naturally supposed was quietly in her bed, lay on the window-seat, the casement open, and herself asleep; but the traces of tears were upon her cheek, and her long fair hair loose, and yet saturated with the dews of the night."
— 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter X, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 72:
"the golden dew of sleep"
— c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The morning ____ glistened on the grass after a cold night.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The hut kept the rain and ____ out after a fashion.