hew

Etymology 1

From Middle English hewen, from Old English hēawan, from Proto-West Germanic *hauwan, from Proto-Germanic *hawwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *kewh₂- (“to strike, hew, forge”).

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To chop away at; to whittle down; to mow down.
2. (transitive) To shape; to form.
   One of the most widely used typefaces in the world was hewn by the English printer and typographer John Baskerville.
   to hew out a sepulchre
   December 19, 1734, Alexander Pope, letter to Jonathan Swift rather polishing old works than hewing out new
   Constructed by a firm named Posiva, Onkalo has been hewn into the island of Olkiluoto, a brief bridge’s length off Finland’s south-west coast. December 15 2022, Samanth Subramanian, “Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site”, in The Guardian
3. (transitive, US) To act according to, to conform to; usually construed with to.
   Few men measured up to his standard of righteousness; he hewed to the line. 1905, Albert Osborn, John Fletcher Hurst: A Biography, Jennings & Graham, page 428
   Inside the stories usually hewed to a consistent formula: no matter how outlandish and weird the circumstances, in the end everything had to have a natural, if not plausible, ending—frequently, though not always, involving a mad scientist. 1998, Frank M. Robinson, Lawrence Davidson, Pulp Culture: The Art of Fiction Magazines, Collectors Press, Inc., page 103
   Faculty members and students alike were buzzing with the fashionable nostrums that dominated U.S. education discourse in the late sixties, […] These hewed to the recommendations of the Plowden Report, […] 2008, Chester E. Finn, Troublemaker: A Personal History of School Reform Since Sputnik, Princeton University Press, page 28
   Hewing to the old comedy convention of beginning a speech by randomly referencing something in eyesight, Homer begins his talk about the birds and the bees by saying that women are like refrigerators: they’re all about six feet tall and weigh three hundred pounds and make ice cubes. May 27, 2012, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid on the Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club
   King recovered the rights on the condition that he'd stop publicly disparaging Kubrick's version. "For a long time I hewed that line," he told CBS News in June. "And then Mr. Kubrick died. So now I figured, what the hell. I've gone back to saying mean things about it." 2013-10-02, Alex Pappademas, “Leuqes! LEUQES! LEUQES! – The Shining sequel and what it says about Stephen King”, in Grantland.com, retrieved 2013-10-16

noun

1. (obsolete) Destruction by cutting down or hewing.

Etymology 2

See hue.

noun

1. (obsolete) Hue; colour.
   […] while the youthful hew Sits on thy skin like morning dew 1681, Andrew Marvell, To His Coy Mistress, lines 33–34
2. (obsolete) Shape; form.
   Whose semblance she did carrie under feigned hew.