DEW

The dews in Palestine and some other oriental countries are very copious, and serve very greatly to sustain and promote vegetation in seasons when little or no rain falls. Maundrell tells us that the tents of his company, when pitched on Tabor and Hermon, "were as wet with dew as if it had rained on them all night," Jud 6:38 So 5:2. Dew was especially heavy near the mountains, and just before and after the rainy season. It was prized as a precious boon of Providence, Ge 27:28 De 33:28 1Ki 17:1 Job 29:19 Hag 1:10 Zec 8:12. The dew furnishes the sacred penmen with many beautiful allusions, De 32:2 2Sa 17:12 Ps 110:3 Pr 19:12 Ho 14:5 Mic 5:7.

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Dew. Dew
“There is no dew properly so called in Palestine, for there is no moisture in the hot summer air to be chilled into dew-drops by the coldness of the night. From May till October rain is unknown, the sun shining with unclouded brightness day after day. The heat becomes intense, the ground hard, and vegetation would perish but for the moist west winds that come each night from the sea. The bright skies cause the heat of the day to radiate very quickly into space, so that the nights are as cold as the day is the reverse, a peculiarity of climate from which poor Jacob suffered thousands of years ago (Gen. 31:40). To this coldness of the night air the indispensable watering of all plant-life is due. The winds, loaded with moisture, are robbed of it as they pass over the land, the cold air condensing it into drops of water, which fall in a gracious rain of mist on every thirsty blade. In the morning the fog thus created rests like a sea over the plains, and far up the sides of the hills, which raise their heads above it like so many islands. At sunrise, however, the scene speedily changes. By the kindling light the mist is transformed into vast snow-white clouds, which presently break into separate masses and rise up the mountain-sides, to disappear in the blue above, dissipated by the increasing heat. These are ‘the morning clouds and the early dew that go away’ of which Hosea (6:4; 13:3) speaks so touchingly” (Geikie’s The Holy Land, etc., i., p. 72). Dew is a source of great fertility (Gen. 27:28; Deut. 33:13; Zech. 8:12), and its withdrawal is regarded as a curse from God (2 Sam. 1:21; 1 Kings 17:1). It is the symbol of a multitude (2 Sam. 17:12; Ps. 110:3); and from its refreshing influence it is an emblem of brotherly love and harmony (Ps. 133:3), and of rich spiritual blessings (Hos. 14:5).

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DEW. → A merciful providence De 33:13 → Forms imperceptibly 2Sa 17:12 → In the night Job 29:19 → From the clouds Pr 3:20 → Called the dew of heaven Da 4:15 → Absence of 1Ki 17:1 → Miraculous profusion and absence of Jud 6:36-40 → See METEOROLOGY → FIGURATIVE Ps 110:3; Isa 26:19; Ho 6:4; 13:3; 14:5

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dew. Dew, n. a thin cold vapor; v.t. to wet, to moisten

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Dew (dū), n. [[AS. deáw; akin to D. dauw, G. thau, tau, Icel. dögg, Sw. dagg, Dan. dug; cf. Skr. dhav, dhāv, to flow. √72. Cf. Dag dew.]] 1. 1. Moisture from the atmosphere condensed by cool bodies upon their surfaces, particularly at night.
Her tears fell with the dews at even. Tennyson. 2. 2. Figuratively, anything which falls lightly and in a refreshing manner. “The golden dew of sleep.” Shak.
3. 3. An emblem of morning, or fresh vigor. “The dew of his youth.” Longfellow.
☞ Dew is used in combination; as, dew-bespangled, dew-drenched, dewdrop, etc.