strew

Alternative forms

• strow
• straw (dialectal)

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /stɹuː/
• Rhymes: -uː

Verb

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

1. To distribute objects or pieces of something over an area, especially in a random manner.

   to strew sand over a floor

   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, act 5, scene 3:

     Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew.

   • Dryden

     And strewed his mangled limbs about the field.

   • Beaconsfield

     On a principal table a desk was open and many papers strewn about.

2. To cover, or lie upon, by having been scattered.

   Leaves strewed the ground.

   • Spenser

     The snow which does the top of Pindus strew.

   • Alexander Pope

     Is thine alone the seed that strews the plain?

3. (transitive) To spread abroad; to disseminate.
   • Shakespeare

     She may strew dangerous conjectures.

Anagrams

• Trews, trews, werst, wrest