It's the Word of the Day podcast for April 4th.
Today's word is hue, spelled H-E-W.
Hue is a verb.
It's most commonly used with two, to mean to conform to or adhere to something.
Hue, on its own,
has several meanings having to do with cutting or shaping with a sharp tool, such as an axe.
Both hued and hewn are past participles of the verb hu.
Here's the word used in a sentence from The New Yorker by Chelsea Edgar.
The play hued closely to the original script with a few splashes of local color.
Without context, the contrasting meanings of the word hu may seem arbitrary.
What does shaping something with an axe have to do with conforming or adhering to something?
If you're not a lumberjack, that's okay, we'll explain.
The connection lies in the woodworking phrase, hue to the line,
where line refers to the mark along the length of a log,
indicating where to chop in order to shape a beam.
Hueing to the line literally is cutting along the mark,
adhering to it, until the side of the log is squared.
In the 1800s, Hue to the Line was used figuratively as half of the idiom,
Hue to the Line let the chips fall where they may,
to advise someone to stay true to a course of action, whatever the consequences may be.