dewy

English

Dewy spiderweb; note the collection of dewdrops along the web.

Etymology

From Middle English dewy, deuhy, from Old English dēawiġ, from Proto-West Germanic *dauwag, *dauwīg, equivalent to dew +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdjuː.i/, /ˈd͡ʒuː.i/, /ˈduː.i/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -uːi

Adjective

dewy (comparative dewier or more dewy, superlative dewiest or most dewy)

1. Covered by dew.
   • 1863, Roden Noel, Behind the Veil: And Other Poems, London: Macmillan and Co., page 149:

     His mildly vivid dewy beam
     Of beryl to diffuse: the gleam
     With elf-light tiniest figures lit
     Of shapely moon-fair elves who sit
     Each on a gemmy blade's curled tip
     In circle.

   Synonyms: bedewed, rory; see also Thesaurus:bedewed

   The dewy grass was too slick for football.

2. Having the quality of bearing droplets of water.

   In the dewy fog, it was cold and damp.

   • 1831, Edgar Allan Poe, The Sleeper:

     At midnight, in the month of June, / I stand beneath the mystic moon. / An opiate vapor, dewy, dim, / Exhales from out her golden rim

3. Resembling or characteristic of dew.
4. Fresh and innocent.
   • 1814, 16 March, Percy Bysshe Shelley letter to Hogg, Thy Gentle Face

     Thy dewy looks sink in my breast

     Thy gentle words stir poison there;

   • 1906 January–October, Joseph Conrad, chapter II, in The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale (Collection of British Authors; 3995), copyright edition, London: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published 1907, →OCLC, page 13:

     It was unusually early for him; his whole person exhaled the charm of almost dewy freshness; […]

   • 2009, Bernfried Nugel, Jerome Meckier, Aldous Huxley Annual, →ISBN, page 23:

     Simplicity in life, simplicity in art, and a dewy freshness over all.

Derived terms

• dewily
• dewiness
• dewy-eyed
• undewy

Translations

covered by dew

• Belarusian: ро́сны (rósny), пакры́ты расо́й (pakrýty rasój), рася́ны́ (rasjáný)
• Bulgarian: росен (bg) (rosen), оросен (bg) (orosen)
• Czech: orosený
• Dutch: dauwig, bedauwd (nl)
• German: betaut (de), taufeucht (de)
• Latin: rōridus
• Polish: pokryty rosą m, zroszony m

bearing droplets of water

• Polish: mokry (pl) m

fresh

• Czech: svěží

Anagrams

• wyde, wyed

Middle English

Alternative forms

• deuhy

Etymology

From Old English dēawiġ, from Old English dēaw. Equivalent to dew +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛu̯.iː/

Adjective

dewy

1. Resembling dew; dewy
2. Resembling water.

Descendants

• English: dewy

References

• “deuī, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 15 July 2018.