strew

English

Alternative forms

• strow, straw (dialectal)

Etymology

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /stɹuː/　

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /stɹu/
• Rhymes: -uː

Verb

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.

   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

     Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew.

   • 1697, Virgil, “Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     And strewed his mangled limbs about the field.

   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2:

     […] I ſee
     Th’ Inſulting Tyrant prancing o’er the Field
     Strow’d with Rome’s Citizens, and drench’d in Slaughter,
     His Horſe’s Hoofs wet with Patrician Blood.

   • 1880, [Benjamin Disraeli], Endymion […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC:

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

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

   Leaves strewed the ground.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, Prothalamion:

     The snow which does the top of Pindus strew.

   • 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:

     Is thine alone the seed that strews the plain?

3. (transitive, archaic) To spread abroad; to disseminate.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v]:

     She may strew dangerous conjectures.

4. To populate with at random points; to cause to appear randomly distributed throughout.

   error-strewn

Synonyms

• scatter, sprinkle

Derived terms

• bestrew
• strewable
• strewage
• strewments
• strewnfield

Related terms

• strain
• streusel

Translations

to distribute objects or pieces of something

• Bulgarian: разпръсвам (bg) (razprǎsvam), разстилам (bg) (razstilam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 散開／散开 (zh) (sànkāi)

• Czech: rozházet, roztrousit, rozptýlit
• Dutch: strooien (nl), bestrooien (nl)
• Finnish: sirotella (fi), levittää (fi), hajottaa (fi)
• French: parsemer (fr), joncher (fr)
• Friulian: stierni
• Galician: espallar (gl), esparexer
• German: streuen (de)
• Ido: trasemar (io), dissemar (io)
• Indonesian: menyebar, menebar
• Irish: easraigh, scaip
• Italian: spargere (it), disseminare (it), cospargere (it), ricoprire (it)
• Japanese: 散らす (ja) (ちらす, chirasu), ばら撒く (ばらまく, baramaku)
• Korean: 흩다 (heutda), 흩뜨리다 (ko) (heuttteurida)
• Latin: spargō, cōnsternō
• Maori: whārikiriki, whakapūreirei
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: strø (no)

  Nynorsk: strø

• Persian: افشاندن (fa) (afšândan)
• Polish: rozrzucić (pl)
• Portuguese: espalhar (pt), esparramar (pt)
• Romanian: împrăștia (ro), răspândi (ro), așterne (ro)
• Russian: разбра́сывать (ru) impf (razbrásyvatʹ), разброса́ть (ru) pf (razbrosátʹ), сы́пать (ru) impf (sýpatʹ), насы́пать (ru) pf (nasýpatʹ), посы́пать (ru) pf (posýpatʹ)
• Sanskrit: स्तृणोति (sa) (stṛṇoti), स्तृनाति (stṛnāti)
• Spanish: esparcir (es)
• Swedish: strö (sv)
• Telugu: వెదజల్లు (te) (vedajallu)
• Tocharian B: kät-

Anagrams

• Trews, wrest, Werts, werst, trews

Middle English

Noun

strew

1. Alternative form of straw

Yola

Noun

strew

1. Alternative form of stre

References

• 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