Sturm und Drang

Pronounced: shtourm-unt-DRANG, noun

Notes: People who know German may know this word

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Yesterday’s word

The word mew can mean, as a noun

• a cage for hawks, especially when molting
• a place for retiring or hiding
• (UK) [pluralized] stables with living quarters, or a row of apartments converted from stables
• the high-pitched sound of a cat
• the characteristic sound of a gull
• a seagull

As a verb, it can mean

• to confine
• to molt

First usage

Various; the first three nouns and the verbs came into English in the late 1300s. The sound definitions (fourth and fifth above) came into English in the mid-1300s. The final noun definition came into English before the 1100s.

Background / Comments

I knew the word for the sound a cat makes. I also knew the UK definition (mews), but the others were new to me. The first three noun definitions as well as the verb definitions came from the Old French word muer (to molt), which came from the Latin word mutare (to change). It it believed that the definitions for the cat and gull sounds are imitative in origin. The final noun definition came from the Old English word maew.