E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Rue.
A slip of land (free of all manorial charges and claims) encompassing or bounding manorial land. It certainly is not derived from the French rue, a street, nor is it a corruption of row. (See REWE.)
1
Rewe is a roll or slip, hence Ragman’s rewe or roll (q.v.).
2
“There is a whole world of curious history contained in the phrase Ragman’s rewe, meaning a roll. In Piers Plowman’s Vision, the pope’s bull is called a rewe.”—Edinburgh Review, July, 1870.
