English

Noun

tewel ‎(plural tewels)

1. (now rare) A vent or chimney or pipe, especially one leading into a furnace or bellows.
   • 1825 September 29, patent for a Forge and furnace water back and tewel, recorded in A List of Patents Granted by the United States
   • 1846, The Repertory of Patent Inventions and Other Discoveries, page 128:

     Lamasure, M. Le Petit, French patent of, for a double-case furnace tewel supplied with water, &c., xiv. (3d s.) 29

   • 1987, Ian Hodder, The Archaeology of Contextual Meanings (ISBN 0521329248), page 5:

     Also, there are no obvious differences in the proportion of tewel pieces with attached slag in the two furnace types.

   • 2014, The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns (ISBN 1134679424), page 502:

     […] the ore-smelting furnace is like a pregnant woman. […] For example, the furnace is described as the reproductive organs of a woman in one of the lessons in the Venda domba ritual while the tewel pipes are described as being symbolically male (Blacking 1969, p. 167).

2. (obsolete) The anus or butt.
   • (Can we date this quote?) The Book of Secrets (attributed to Albertus Magnus):

     It healeth also cuts, and swelling of the tewel, or fundament, […]

   • 1978 June, Leslie Brown, Foreword to the First Edition, Birds of Prey: Health and Disease, page xi:

     Falconers use many queer but ancient terms of the condition and ailment of birds of prey. Mr Cooper makes sense out of all that. 'Snurt' seems to me an entirely appropriate name for a runny nose, […] . When next I am constipated I shall complain that I have something wrong with my ‘tewel’.

Anagrams

• tweel

Tok Pisin

Alternative forms

• dewel

Etymology

From English devil.

Noun

tewel

1. devil.
2. ghost; spirit; soul.
3. reflection; shadow.