sew

Formssews, sewing, sewed, sewn

Pluralsews

1. 1
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To join, fasten, or enclose pieces of fabric or other material by passing thread through them repeatedly with a needle; to do this kind of work.

   Can you sew this button back on my shirt before tonight?

   Few of my friends know how to sew, so they bring their mending to me.

   UsageThe past tense is sewed, and the past participle is sewn or sewed. Sow, for seeds, sounds the same but is a different word.

   Similarstitch

2. 2
   USSOO/suː/UKUKSYOO/sjuː/US

   drainverbobsoletetransitive

   To drain off the water held in something, such as a pond.

   Now geld with the gelder the ram and the bul, / sew ponds, amend dammes, and sel webster thy wul

   1573, Thomas Tusser, Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie

   Note

   A pond-keeper's verb, back-formed from sewer, a drain, and with no tie to needlework. Thomas Tusser's Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie (1573) sets "sew ponds" beside mending dams and selling wool. It also worked without an object, of water seeping away: Roger North in 1713 speaks of a pond bank that sews, where the water sews out. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

   • The pond-draining verb is a back-formation from sewer meaning a drain, with a separate origin from the needlework verb. en.wiktionary.org
   • Thomas Tusser's Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry first appeared under that title in 1573. gutenberg.org
   • Tusser places the exact words 'sew ponds' beside instructions to mend dams and sell wool. gutenberg.org
   • Roger North's A Discourse of Fish and Fish-Ponds was published in 1713. folgerpedia.folger.edu
   • North uses sew intransitively of a pond bank leaking and water escaping. gutenberg.org
3. 3
   thin soupnounobsolete

   A thin soup made by simmering food in water, or a gravy made from the juices of cooked meat.

   Note

   This is a separate word that only shares the needle verb's spelling: Middle English sew, broth, from Old English sēaw, sap or juice, so the meaning ran from a plant's juices to a cook's. Old recipes and verse may spell it sewe, and William Warner's Albions England wants "gud spiced Sewe" at Yule beside roast and plum pies. It could also be made thick, like a gruel. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • The broth noun has a separate origin from the sewing verb, deriving through Middle English sew from Old English sēaw, meaning sap or juice. en.wiktionary.org
   • The word's meanings developed from plant juice to broth or gravy. en.wiktionary.org
   • Sewe occurs as a spelling in an old recipe. en.wiktionary.org
   • William Warner wrote Albions England. archive.org
   • Albions England mentions 'gud spiced Sewe' at Yule alongside roast and plum pies. en.wiktionary.org
   • Sew could be a thick, gruel-like preparation. en.wiktionary.org

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