hew

To chop away at; to whittle down; to mow down.

Hew them to pieces, hack their bones asunder[…]

A favourite at the Old Bailey, and eke at the Sessions, Mr. Stryver had begun cautiously to hew away the lower staves of the ladder on which he mounted.

To shape; to form.

to hew out a sepulchre

Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousnesse, ye that seeke the Lord: looke vnto the rocke whence yee are hewen, and to the hole of the pitte whence ye are digged.

To act according to, to conform to; usually construed with to.

Few men measured up to his standard of righteousness; he hewed to the line.

Inside the stories usually hewed to a consistent formula: no matter how outlandish and weird the circumstances, in the end everything had to have a natural, if not plausible, ending—frequently, though not always, involving a mad scientist.

Destruction by cutting down or hewing.

Of whom he makes such hauocke and such hew, / That swarmes of damned soules to hell he sends

Hue; colour.

[…] while the youthful hew Sits on thy skin like morning dew

Shape; form.

He taught to imitate that Lady trew, Whose semblance she did carrie under feigned hew.