mew up

C1 formal separable transitive

In simple words

To keep someone or something locked up in a small place.

Literal meaning: A 'mew' was a cage where hawks were kept; 'up' implies full enclosure. To mew up: to put in a hawk's cage.

Meanings

1 C1 idiomatic formal

rare

To confine a person or animal within a small, restricted space, often for a long time.

"The elderly count had been mewed up in that tower for the better part of a decade."

Grammar: separable

Usage notes

Rare and highly literary. Derived from 'mew', a cage for hawks during moulting. More likely to be encountered in historical fiction or literary writing than in modern speech. The more common equivalent is 'coop up'.

Commonly used with

prisoner animal house room cage apartment

Forms

Base

mew up

I/you/we/they

3rd person

mews up

he/she/it

Past simple

mewed up

yesterday

Past participle

mewed up

have + pp

-ing form

mewing up

continuous

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Synonyms

coop up shut in confine imprison cage pen up

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