mews

mews [myo͞oz]

pl.n.

〚after the Mews, the royal stables in London, built on the site where royal hawks were mewed: see MEW¹〛 [usually with sing. v.] Chiefly Brit.

a) stables or carriage houses, now often converted into dwellings, grouped around a court or along an alley

b) such an alley

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n (pl mews) (esp BrE)

a street of buildings where horses used to be kept, but which have since been converted into homes. These homes are usually small but they are considered very fashionable and are therefore expensive to buy or rent, especially in parts of central London such as Kensington and Chelsea.

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Row of stables and coach houses with living quarters above, built behind houses, especially in 17th–18th-century London.

Most have been converted into modernized dwellings. The term originally referred to the royal stables in London, built where the king's hawks once stayed at molting ("mew") time.

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▪ building

      row of stables and coach houses with living quarters above, built in a paved yard behind large London houses of the 17th and 18th centuries. Today most mews stables have been converted into houses, some greatly modernized and considered highly desirable residences.

      The word may also refer to a lane or alley in which stables are situated. The term mews originally referred to the royal stables in London, so called because they were built where the king's hawks were once mewed, or confined at molting (or “mew”) time.

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