pew / pyoō/ • n. a long bench with a back, placed in rows in the main part of some churches to seat the congregation. ∎  an enclosure or compartment containing a number of seats, used in some churches to seat a particular worshiper or group of worshipers. ∎  (the pews) the congregation of a church: the pews settled down.

pew. Fixed wooden seat with a back and bench-ends (the latter often elaborately carved with blind tracery and finished with poppy-head finials) in use in churches from c. C13. Box-pews were enclosed with high panelled partitions and a door, commonly dating from C18.

Bibliography

J. Parker (1850);
Jane Turner (1996)

pew raised enclosure or desk in a church, †in a court, etc. XIV; pl. fixed benches with backs XVII. ME. pywe, puwe — OF. puye, puie — L. podia, pl. of podium elevated place, parapet — Gr. pódion base, pedestal, dim. of poús, pod- FOOT.