Category:Dew

Dew, n. Etym: [AS. deáw; akin to D. dauw, G. thau, tau, Icel. dögg, Sw. dagg, Dan. dug; cf. Skr. dhav, dhav, to flow. Dag dew.]

1. Moisture from the atmosphere condensed by cool bodies upon their surfaces, particularly at night. Her tears fell with the dews at even. Tennyson.

2. Figuratively, anything which falls lightly and in a refreshing manner. "The golden dew of sleep." Shak.

3. An emblem of morning, or fresh vigor. "The dew of his youth." Longfellow.

Note: Dew is used in combination; as, dew-bespangled, dew-drenched, dewdrop, etc.

dew Dew, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dewed; p. pr. & vb. n. Dewing.]

Defn: To wet with dew or as with dew; to bedew; to moisten; as with dew. The grasses grew a little ranker since they dewed them so. A. B. Saxton.

dew Dew, a. & n.

Defn: Same as Due, or Duty. [Obs.] Spenser.

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Dew - "There is no dew properly so called in Palestine, for there is no moisture in the hot summer air to be chilled into dew-drops by the coldness of the night. From May till October rain is unknown, the sun shining with unclouded brightness day after day. The heat becomes intense, the ground hard, and vegetation would perish but for the moist west winds that come each night from the sea. The bright skies cause the heat of the day to radiate very quickly into space, so that the Night|nights]] are as cold as the day is the reverse, a peculiarity of climate from which poor Jacob suffered thousands of years ago (Genesis 31:40). To this coldness of the night air the indispensable watering of all plant-life is due. The winds, loaded with moisture, are robbed of it as they pass over the land, the cold air condensing it into drops of water, which fall in a gracious rain of mist on every thirsty blade. In the morning the fog thus created rests like a sea over the plains, and far up the sides of the hills, which raise their heads above it like so many islands. At sunrise, however, the scene speedily changes. By the kindling light the mist is transformed into vast snow-white clouds, which presently break into separate masses and rise up the mountain-sides, to disappear in the blue above, dissipated by the increasing heat. These are 'the morning clouds and the early dew that go away' of which Hosea (Hosea 6:4; Hosea 13:3) speaks so touchingly" (Geikie's The Holy Land, etc., i., p. 72). Dew is a source of great fertility (Genesis 27:28; Deuteronomy 33:13; Zechariah 8:12), and its withdrawal is regarded as a curse from God (2 Samuel 1:21; 1 Kings 17:1). It is the symbol of a multitude (2 Samuel 17:12; Psalms 110:3); and from its refreshing influence it is an emblem of brotherly love and harmony (Psalms 133:3), and of rich spiritual blessings (Hosea 14:5).