What does emmew mean?
Emmew is a rare, archaic English verb meaning to confine or shut up something — originally a bird of prey — as if in a cage. It derives from the noun 'mew', the term for the cage or enclosure in which hawks were kept during moulting, which itself comes via Old French from a Latin root relating to moulting. In historical texts the word appears both literally, describing the housing of falcons, and figuratively, describing people confined or secluded in rooms, estates, or situations against their inclination. Today emmew survives only in antiquarian and literary contexts, and readers are far more likely to meet it in older prose than in conversation. Its value lies chiefly in the vivid, precise image it offers: to be emmewed is not merely to be enclosed but to be kept, like a valuable raptor, in careful and deliberate captivity.
verbTo shut up or confine, especially as in a cage; to mew.
- To confine or shut up, as in a cage or mew (archaic).
"The falconer would emmew the young hawk until its training began."
"The courtier complained of being emmewed all summer at his country estate."
"Falconers would emmew their birds during the moulting season."
Before there were bird cages, there was the 'mew' — and to emmew was to lock your prized hawk away inside one.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of emmew
Emmew combines the intensive prefix 'em-' (from Old French en-, ultimately Latin in-) with the noun 'mew', denoting a hawk's cage. The word 'mew' entered Middle English from Old French 'mue', meaning a place where birds moult, derived from Latin 'mutare', to change. The verb thus literally meant 'to put into a mew'.
How emmew is actually used
Archaic and rare; encountered mainly in older literary texts and historical writing about falconry. It carries a slightly figurative sense of confinement or seclusion when used metaphorically.
Easily confused with emmew
Mew can mean the cry of a cat, a gull, a cage for hawks, or simply 'to confine', whereas emmew specifically means to shut something up as if in such a cage.