lew

A 1266 gold écu issued by Louis IX.

A 1498 gold écu issued by Louis XII.

From corruption of French louis, from Louis,[1] presumably Louis IX or Louis XI, who issued gold écus.

lew (plural lews or lewis or leois)

1. (Scotland, obsolete) A French gold coin circulated in 15th-century Scotland.
   • 1467, Scottish Acts of James III, Vol. II, p. 88:

     ...þe Ingliss noble, henry, ande Eduarde w^t þe ross, þe franche crowne, þe salute þe lewe and þe Ridar sall haif courss in þis realme...

• lewe

From Middle English lew, lewe, from Old English hlēow, hlēowe (“warm, sunny, sheltered”), from Proto-Germanic *hlewaz, *hliwjaz, *hlēwaz (“warm, lukewarm”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱal(w)e-, *ḱlēw- (“warm, hot”). Cognate with Old Norse hlýr (“warm, mild”), ( > Danish ly (“lukewarm”)), hlær, German lau, which are themselves akin to Old Norse hlé (“lee”), Danish læ (“shelter”). Compare lee.[2]

• lue, loo, looe, lee, loo

lew (comparative lewer, superlative lewest)

1. (obsolete) Sunny; warm.
2. (dialectal) Lukewarm, tepid.
3. (dialectal) Alee: protected from the wind.
   • 1674, J. Ray, "South & East Countrey Words" in Coll. Eng. Words, p. 70:

     Lee or Lew, Calm, under the wind. Suss.

   • 1892, H. C. O'Neill, Devonshire Idyls, p. 7:

     His house... was ‘loo’ from the cold north winds.

Now chiefly Southern Scottish and Northern English.

Sheep sheltering beside a stone wall. Shepherds formerly raised lews—structures of thatch and sticks—for the same purpose.

lew (plural lews)

1. (now Scotland) Warmth, heat.
   • 1605, J. Sylvester translating G. de S. Du Bartas as Deuine Weekes & Wks, Book i, Ch. iv, p. 136:

     To th' end a fruitfull lew
     May euerie Climate in his time renew.

2. (dialectal) A shelter from the wind, particularly temporary structures raised by shepherds to protect their flocks.
   • 1825, J. Jennings, Observ. Dial. W. Eng., p. 52:

     Lew, shelter; defence from storms or wind.

   • 1887, W. D. Parish & al., Dictionary of the Kentish Dialect:

     Lew, a thatched hurdle, supported by sticks, and set up in a field to screen lambs, etc. from the wind.

• house-lew

lew (third-person singular simple present lews, present participle lewing, simple past and past participle lewed)

1. (transitive) To make warm or lukewarm.
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To become warm.
3. (transitive) To shelter from the wind.
   • 1887, W. D. Parish & al., Dictionary of the Kentish Dialect:

     Lew... Those trees will lew the house when they're up-grown.

Of uncertain etymology, but compare Old English gelewed (“weakness, infirmity”) and limlaeweo (“limb-weak, lame”).[3] Possibly related to Proto-Germanic *laiwą (“damage”); compare Old Norse læ (“venom, bane”).

lew (comparative more lew, superlative most lew)

1. Weak.
2. Sickly-looking, pale, wan.
   • c. 1325,, "Old Age" in T. Wright & al.'s 1845 Reliquiae Antiquae, Vol. II, p. 211:

     Mi bodi wexit lewe.

Variant of lo (q.v.).[4]

lew

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of lo or look: a cry to look at something.
   • a. 1500, Towneley Plays, Book I, Scene iii, l. 46:

     Hence bot a litill She commys, lew, lew!

• looky-loo

Variant of lue (q.v.).[5]

lew (third-person singular simple present lews, present participle lewing, simple past and past participle lewed)

1. (mining, dialectal, transitive) Alternative form of lue: to sift, particularly while mining tin or silver.
   • 1674, John Ray, A Collection of English Words, Not Generally Used, p. 122:

     Cornwall... The fine [sc. tin] is lewed in a fine sierce.

• lew in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
• lew in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

• we'l

From Proto-Brythonic *lew, from Latin leō.

• (Revived Middle Cornish) IPA^(key): [lɛˑʊ]
• (Revived Late Cornish) IPA^(key): [leˑʊ]

lew m (plural lewyon)

1. lion

lēw

1. Romanization of 𐌻𐌴𐍅

• IPA^(key): /lɛf/

• audio

  (file)

From Proto-Slavic *lьvъ. Probably from a Germanic language, from Latin leō.

lew m anim (diminutive lewek, augmentative lwisko, feminine lwica)

1. lion
2. (heraldry) lion

• (noun) lwię n
• (adjective) lwi

From Bulgarian лев (lev)

lew m inan

1. lev

lew f

1. genitive plural of lewa

• lew in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from Dutch leeuw.

lew

1. lion

lew

1. Soft mutation of llew.

From Proto-Indo-European *leb-, cognate with Persian لب‎ (lab), English lip etc.

lew ?

1. (anatomy) lip