(verb) to cut with blows of a heavy cutting instrument / (verb) to fell by blows of an ax / (verb) to give form or shape to with or as if with heavy cutting blows / (verb) to make cutting blows / (verb) conform adhere / (abbreviation) Department of Health, Education, and Welfare / (verb) to hew (as timber) coarsely without smoothing or finishing / (verb) to form crudely
the way this state was historically hewn out of the wilderness