pew
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a long wooden seat in a church where many people sit together.
n.a long, typically wooden bench with a back, fixed in rows in a church to seat the congregation.
Simple“The old church had uncomfortable wooden pews that made a lot of noise.”
In context“The congregation sat silently in the polished oak pews, waiting for the wedding ceremony to begin.”
- 02 C1 Advanced
n.a funny or old-fashioned word for a chair or a place to sit.
n.a seat or chair; used in the idiomatic phrase 'take a pew'.
Simple“Come in and take a pew while I make us some tea.”
In context“He gestured toward the armchair and invited his guest to take a pew before starting the interview.”
- 03 B1 Intermediate
interj.the sound people make when pretending to fire a laser or a toy gun.
interj.an onomatopoeic representation of the sound of a laser gun or blaster, common in science fiction contexts.
Simple“The children ran around the garden shouting 'pew pew' at each other.”
In context“The low-budget sci-fi film used a simple 'pew' sound effect every time the hero fired his plastic blaster.”
Synonyms
“Her audience, crammed into the pews of Rockefeller Memorial chapel at the University of Chicago , burst into spontaneous applause.”
From Middle English pewe, from Old French puiee, puïe (“balustrade, balcony”), from Latin podia, plural of podium (“parapet, podium”), from Ancient Greek πόδιον (pódion, “little foot”), from πούς (poús, “foot”). Doublet of podia.
See phew.
Onomatopoeic.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.