MEW

A gull, esp. the common British species (Larus canus); called also sea mew, maa, mar, mow, and cobb.

To shed or cast; to change; to molt; as, the hawk mewed his feathers. Nine times the moon had mewed her horns. Dryden.

To cast the feathers; to molt; hence, to change; to put on a new appearance. Now everything doth mew, And shifts his rustic winter robe. Turbervile.

A cage for hawks while mewing; a coop for fattening fowls; hence, any inclosure; a place of confinement or shelter; -- in the latter sense usually in the plural. Full many a fat partrich had he in mewe. Chaucer. Forthcoming from her darksome mew. Spenser. Violets in their secret mews. Wordsworth.

A stable or range of stables for horses; -- compound used in the plural, and so called from the royal stables in London, built on the site of the king's mews for hawks.

To shut up; to inclose; to confine, as in a cage or other inclosure. More pity that the eagle should be mewed. Shak. Close mewed in their sedans, for fear of air. Dryden.

To cry as a cat. [Written also meaw, meow.] Shak.

The common cry of a cat. Shak.