Forms: (5 ewary, -erye, eawerie, eurey, 6 ewe-, yewrie, 6–7 ewrie, 7 eawrye), 5– ewery, ewry. [f. EWER + -Y3.]
1. The apartment or office for ewers, esp. in former times, in the royal household; a room where ewers of water, table linen, and towels were kept. Also Groom, Sergeant of the Ewery.
[1392. Will Earl of Arundel, in Turner, Dom. Archit., III. iv. 114. Pur l’ewerye un paire basyns d’argent.]
c. 1460. Plumpton Corr., 25. John Felton groom of the Chamber, and John Ward groom of the Eurey.
c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 256, in Babees Bk. Take it [þe surnape] vppe … and to þe Ewery bere hit youre silf agayne.
1513. Bk. Keruynge, ibid. 155. So thyn ewery be arayed with basyns & ewers, & water hote & colde.
1541. Act 33 Hen. VIII., c. 12 § 11. The sergeant of the Ewrie … shal also be … redy with clothes sufficient for the surgeon.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., III. 920/1. In the butterie two yeomen, two groomes, and two pages: and in the yewrie likewise.
1671. Evelyn, Diary, 1 March. The King … walking along the entries … as far as the ewry.
1723. Hist. Reg., Chron. Diary, 36. Master of the Ewry to their Royal Highnesses.
b. attrib.
c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 232, in Babees Bk. Þan emperialle … Þy Ewry borde with basons & lauour.
1502. Priv. Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830), 80. Thewry doore at Baynardes Castell.
† 2. ‘The scullery of a religious house.’ Obs.
In mod. Dicts.
