---
title: mew — Early Modern English dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «mew» in the Early Modern English dictionary: In the Torah, a mew is a sea-gull, a seabird; in the fairy tales it is a cat's soft high cry. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/M/mew/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/) / [Early Modern English dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/) / [M](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/M/) / mew

# mew

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** mew, it, kitchen cat · **What happens:** be, mew, say · **To what, where:** sea gull, Torah, soft high cry, more · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
«mew» in the Early Modern English dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [mew in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/emode/w/mew.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In the Torah, a mew is a sea-gull, a seabird; in the fairy tales it is a cat's soft high cry.

<!-- fold The tree, 23 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:mew:m1:1
# text = In the Torah, a mew is a sea-gull, a seabird; in the fairy tales it is a cat's soft high cry.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Torah	Torah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	mew	mew	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
9	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	gull	gull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	seabird	seabird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	conj	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	's	's	PART	POS	_	23	case	_	_
25	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
26	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	cry	cry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a mew | a sea gull and a seabird and the fairy tales |  | the Torah |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | present | mew | a cat's soft high cry |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the sea-mew, and the hawk after its kinds;

<!-- .note -->
From Torah LEV.11.16, JPS 1917.

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:mew:x1:1
# text = and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the sea-mew, and the hawk after its kinds;
1	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	ostrich	ostrich	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	hawk	hawk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	mew	mew	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	hawk	hawk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
20	after	after	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	kinds	kind	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And then it mewed more than ever.

<!-- .note -->
From The Book of Dragons.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:mew:x2:1
# text = And then it mewed more than ever.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	mewed	mew	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	obj	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mew** | past | it | more |  |  | then |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent more=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Well, I should have mewed," said the kitchen-cat.

<!-- .note -->
From Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen.

<!-- fold The tree, 9 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:mew:x3:1
# text = "Well, I should have mewed," said the kitchen-cat.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Well	well	INTJ	UH	_	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
5	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux	_	_
7	mewed	mew	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	kitchen	kitchen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mew** *in a quote* | should · perfect | the kitchen cat *= cat* |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the kitchen cat |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** the Early Modern English dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova; its examples quote public-domain texts. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [methinks](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/M/methinks/)
- next →: [mightest](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/M/mightest/)
- ↑ back to [M in Early Modern English dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/M/)