King James Bible Dictionary

HEW, verb transitive preterit tense hewed; participle passive hewed or hewn.

1. To cut with an ax, or other like instrument, for the purpose of making an even surface or side; as, to hew timber.

2. To chop; to cut; to hack; as, to hew in pieces.

3. To cut with a chisel; to make smooth; as, to hew stone.

4. To form or shape with an edged instrument; with out; as, to hew out a sepulcher. Isaiah 22:16.

5. To form laboriously.

I now pass my days, not studious nor idle, rather polishing old works than hewing out new ones. [Unusual.]

To hew down, to cut down; to fell by cutting.

To hew off, to cut off; to separate by a cutting instrument.