Wiktionary

strew

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English strewen, strawen, streowen, from Old English strewian, strēawian, strēowian (“to strew, scatter”), from Proto-West Germanic *strauwjan, from Proto-Germanic *strawjaną (“to strew”), from Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread, scatter”).

Cognates
Cognate with Scots strow, straw (“to strew”), West Frisian streauwe (“to strew”), Dutch strooien (“to strew, scatter, sprinkle”), German streuen (“to strew, scatter”), Swedish strö (“to strew”), Icelandic strá (“to strew”), Norwegian Nynorsk strå (“to strew”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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strew (third-person singular simple present strews, present participle strewing, simple past strewed, past participle strewn or strewed)

  1. (dated, except strewn) To distribute objects or pieces of something over an area, especially in a random manner.
    to strew sand over a floor
    The files had been strewn all over the floor.
  2. (archaic) To cover, or lie upon, by having been scattered.
    Leaves strewed the ground.
  3. (transitive, archaic) To spread abroad; to disseminate.
  4. To populate with at random points; to cause to appear randomly distributed throughout.
    error-strewn

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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Middle English

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Noun

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strew

  1. Alternative form of straw

Yola

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Noun

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strew

  1. Alternative form of stre

References

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  • Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 70
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