From Middle Englishpewe, from Old Frenchpuiee, puïe(“balustrade, balcony”), from Latinpodia, plural of podium(“parapet, podium”), from Ancient Greekπόδιον(pódion, “little foot”), from πούς(poús, “foot”). Doublet of podia.
Noun
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pew (plural pews)
One of the long benches in a church, seating several persons, usually fixed to the floor and facing the chancel. In many churches some pews are reserved for either clerical or liturgical officials such as canons, or for prominent families.
2025 May 31, Tanjil Rashid, “Finding their religion”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 9:The pews are filling up, notably with young people, Gen Z's attendance at church has quadrupled in recent years—from a small base, but the significance lies more in the direction of travel.
An enclosed compartment in a church which provides seating for a group of people, often a prominent family.
2006 September 11, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Bush Mourns 9/11 at Ground Zero as N.Y. Remembers”, in The New York Times[1]:At St. Patrick’s Cathedral, firefighters in dress blues and white gloves escorted families to the pews for a memorial service, led by Mr. Bloomberg, to honor the 343 Fire Department employees killed on 9/11.
Any structure shaped like a church pew, such as a stall, formerly used by money lenders, etc.; a box in a theatre; or a pen or sheepfold.
1659, J[ohn] M[ilton], Considerations Touching the Likeliest Means to Remove Hirelings out of the Church.[…], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcombe] for L[ivewell] Chapman[…], →OCLC, pages 57–58:[H]e, a lollard indeed over his elbovv-cuſhion, in almoſt the ſeaventh part of 40. or 50. years teaches them ſcarce half the principles of religion; and his ſheep oft-times ſit the vvhile to as little purpoſe of benifiting as the ſheep in thir pues at Smithfield; […]
1689 February 25 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “February 15th, 1688–1689”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys[…], volume (please specify |volume=I to X), London: George Bell & Sons[…]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893–1899, →OCLC:my wife and I […]did get into the play, the only one we have seen this winter: it was “The Five Hours’ Adventure:” but I sat so far I could not hear well, nor was there any pretty woman that I did see, but my wife, who sat in my Lady Fox’s pew with her.
(colloquial, humorous) A chair; a seat. Pull up a pew.
1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 38:Victor Crabbe's headmaster was a little man called Boothby […] who subscribed to a popular book club and had many long-playing records, who invited people to curry tiffin and said, "Take a pew."
pew (third-person singular simple present pews, present participle pewing, simple past and past participle pewed)
To furnish with pews.
1834, The British Magazine and Monthly Register of Religious and Ecclesiastical Information[…]:building a gallery and altering the pewing in the church at Catherington
Derived terms
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repew
Etymology 2
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See phew.
Alternative forms
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P U, P.U., peeyoo, phew
Interjection
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pew
An expression of disgust in response to an unpleasant odor.
Translations
[edit] expression of disgust in response to an unpleasant odor
Czech: fuj! (cs)
Dutch: bah (nl), pff (nl), jakkes (nl), eikes
French: pouah (fr)
Greek: πιφ! (el)(pif!), πουφ! (el)(pouf!)
Japanese: げ (ja)(ge)
Persian: پیف (fa)(pif)
Polish: fuj (pl)
Russian: фу! (ru)(fu!), тьфу! (ru)(tʹfu!)
Slovak: fuj!, fuj
Spanish: uf (es)
Tagalog: kadiri
Etymology 3
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Onomatopoeic.
Alternative forms
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pyew
Interjection
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pew
(childish) Representative of the sound made by the firing of a gun, particularly a blaster in science fiction.
Derived terms
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pew pew
References
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“pew” in Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary: Based on Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 7th edition, Springfield, Mass.: G[eorge] & C[harles] Merriam, 1963 (1967 printing), →OCLC.
