yew

Etymology 1

From Middle English ew, from Old English īw, ēow, from Proto-Germanic *īwaz, *īhwaz (compare Icelandic ýr), masculine variant of *īwō (compare Dutch ijf, German Eibe), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyHw-. See also Hittite [script needed] (eja, “type of evergreen”), Welsh yw (“yews”), Irish eo [both cognates of Old English īw, Old English ēow]; and Latgalian īva (“bird cherry”), Lithuanian ievà (“bird cherry”), Russian и́ва (íva, “willow”).

noun

1. (countable) A species of coniferous tree, Taxus baccata, with dark-green flat needle-like leaves and seeds bearing red arils, native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia.
   Have a tree or two the witches particularly like, such as the alder, larch, cypress and hemlock; then, to counteract any possible evil effects, there must be a holly, yew, hazel, elder, mountain ash or juniper. 1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 273
2. (countable, by extension) Any tree or shrub of the genus Taxus.
3. Other conifers resembling plants in genus Taxus
   1. in family Podocarpaceae
   2. in family Cephalotaxaceae
4. (uncountable) The wood of the such trees.
   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. 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 37
5. A bow for archery, made of yew wood.

adj

1. Made from the wood of the yew tree.

Etymology 2

pron

1. Eye dialect spelling of you.
   A spinoff, “Major Crimes,” starring “Battlestar Galactica” veteran Mary McDonnell and a number of “Closer” cast members, premieres in August. Sedgwick won’t be among them, swapping Brenda’s syrupy “thank yew” for an upbeat “buh-bye now” to her co-workers. 2012-07-01, T.L. Stanley, “No more crimes for her to solve”, in Los Angeles Times