MEWS. 1. The same as Meux. 2. What we now call a mews is a stable, or place for the reception of horses ; but the word meant, in the days of falconry, a receptacle for hawks. The Fr. vmcr signifies to moult, and a cage for moulting hawks was formerly called a mew. Halliw. The word was afterwards extended to mean the place where hawks were kept, and this, by a not uncommon change of signification, was transferred to a stable.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.