hew to

図書館から借りる本のつなぎで読んでいる "The Power of Habit" はまだ第一章も読み終えていませんが、予約していた本が入手できたので、読むのを中断します。 その前に次の個所からの単語を覚えます。
"I made for myself a million dollars on Pepsodent," Hopkins wrote a few years later after the product appeared on shelves. The key, he said, was that he had "learned the right human psychology." That psychology was grounded in two basic rules:
First, find a simple and obvious cue.
Second, clearly define the rewards.
...
And those same principles have been used to create thousands of other habits--often without people realizing how closely they are hewing to Hopkins's formula.
"hew" は斧で叩く、切るの意味があると思いますが、上の引用文での意味は違いますね。早速辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: (hew to) North American: Conform or adhere to: some artists took photographs that hewed to more traditional ideas of art
・Macmillan Dictionary: American: to continue to use or do something, and not change to something new: hew to: Matthews said he would hew to his plan to provide national health care.
私の好きな辞書Vocabulary.comに次の説明がありました。
It's said that Paul Bunyan hewed the Grand Canyon by dragging his giant mythical axe behind him. But usually things are hewn with a little more purpose -- with each chop and cut designed to shape, sculpt, or craft a final product. Take the axe out of the picture though, and this word takes on a different meaning. If you're trying to adhere to rules, stick to a budget, or conform to a certain tradition, you can use hew, too.