Wiktionary
vb. carve out, or cut out a form, or to make something hollow by using heavy cutting tools such as an axe.
WordNet
v. make or shape as with an axe; "hew out a path in the rock" [syn: hew]
Usage examples of "hew out".
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.
The workmen, wishing to hew out a series of chambers, made their entry in the north face of the cleft, and worked in, leaving a ceiling of the natural stone.
The forest grew denser at every step and he was often forced to hew out a path with his battle-axe, but about noon he came to a narrow footway shut in on both sides by giant trees and heavy underbrush.
And he taught me how he would use me as the instrument of his power, like an ax, to hew out the way for him.
One person after another rose, and, as with an ill-balanced axe, attempted to hew out his conception of art a little more clearly, and sat down with the feeling that, for some reason which he could not grasp, his strokes had gone awry.