eschew
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English eschewen, from Anglo-Norman eschiver (third-person present eschiu), from Frankish *sciuhan (“to dread, shun, avoid”), from Proto-Germanic *skiuhwijaną (“to frighten”). Cognate with Old High German sciuhen (“to frighten off”). More at shy.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (UK) IPA(key): /ɛsˈtʃu/,[1] /ɪsˈtʃu/[1][2][3]
- (US) IPA(key): /ɛsˈtʃu/,[4][5][6] /ɪsˈtʃu/,[4][7] /ɛsˈtʃju/[6]
Audio (US) (file)
Verb[edit]
eschew (third-person singular simple present eschews, present participle eschewing, simple past and past participle eschewed)
- (transitive, formal) To avoid; to shun, to shy away from.
Usage notes[edit]
- The verb eschew is not normally applied to the avoidance or shunning of a person or physical object, but rather, only to the avoidance or shunning of an idea, concept, or other intangible.
Quotations[edit]
| 1599 | 1927 | ||||||
| ME « | 15th c. | 16th c. | 17th c. | 18th c. | 19th c. | 20th c. | 21st c. |
- 1599, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor
- What cannot be eschew’d must be embrac’d.
- 1927, H.P. Lovecraft, The Horror at Red Hook
- He could afford no servants, and would admit but few visitors to his absolute solitude; eschewing close friendships and receiving his rare acquaintances in one of the three ground-floor rooms which he kept in order.
-
2014 November 14, Blake Bailey, “'Tennessee Williams,' by John Lahr [print version: Theatrical victory of art over life, International New York Times, 18 November 2014, p. 13]”, The New York Times:
- [S]he [Edwina, mother of Tennessee Williams] was indeed Amanda [Wingfield, character in Williams' play The Glass Menagerie] in the flesh: a doughty chatterbox from Ohio who adopted the manner of a Southern belle and eschewed both drink and sex to the greatest extent possible.
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
avoid, shun
|
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Concise Oxford English Dictionary
- ^ the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
- ^ MacMillan's British dictionary
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, eleventh edition
- ^ Dictionary.com's (primary) dictionary
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Keynon and Knott's A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English
- ^ Collins English Dictionary, tenth edition
- ^ John Walker's A Critical Pronuncing Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language, which quotes James Elphinston, who also preferred the spelling eskew
