Phew vs Thew - What's the difference?
phew | thew |
Used to show relief, fatigue, surprise, or disgust.
* Phew , that took a long time to define!
Muscle or sinew.
* 1927 , , Arrow, 2008, page 247
* 1960 , , Low-Lands
A good quality or habit; virtue.
An attractive physical attribute, especially muscle; mental or moral vigour.
As an interjection phew
is used to show relief, fatigue, surprise, or disgust.As a noun thew is
(lb) a bondman; a slave or thew can be muscle or sinew.As an adjective thew is
(lb) bond; servile.As a verb thew is
(obsolete) to oppress; enslave or thew can be instruct in morals or values; chastise.phew
English
Interjection
(en interjection)See also
* whew *thew
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m), from (etyl) . See (l), (l).Etymology 2
From (etyl) thewen, from (etyl) .Etymology 3
From (etyl) thew, theaw (often in plural thewes), from (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)- As a rule, the Purple Chicken catered for the intelligentsia of the neighbourhood, and these did not run to thews and sinews. On most nights in the week you would find the tables occupied by wispy poets and slender futurist painters...
- Fortune’s elf child and disinherited darling, young and randy and more a Jolly Jack Tar than anyone human could conceivably be; thews and chin taut against a sixty-knot gale with a well-broken-in briar clenched in the bright defiant teeth