haw
English
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɔː
Etymology 1
Imitative
Interjection
haw
- An imitation of laughter, often used to express scorn or disbelief. Often doubled or tripled (haw haw or haw haw haw).
- You think that song was good? Haw!
- An intermission or hesitation of speech, with a sound somewhat like "haw"; the sound so made.
- Congreve
- Hums or haws.
- Congreve
Usage notes
- (an imitation of laughter): In the US, the spelling haw is rare, with ha being more common.
Translations
Verb
haw (third-person singular simple present haws, present participle hawing, simple past and past participle hawed)
- To stop, in speaking, with a sound like haw; to speak with interruption and hesitation.
Derived terms
Etymology 2
Middle English hawe, from Old English haga (“enclosure, hedge”), from Proto-Germanic *hagô (compare West Frisian haach, Dutch haag, German Hag (“hedged farmland”), from Proto-Indo-European *kaghon (compare Welsh cae (“hedge”), Latin caulae (“sheepfold, enclosure”), cohum (“strap between plowbeam and yoke”), Russian кош (koš, “tent”), кошара (košára, “sheepfold”), Sanskrit कक्ष (kakṣa, “curtain wall”), from *kaghe/o 'to catch, grasp' (compare Welsh cau (“to clasp”), Oscan kahad (“may he seize”), Albanian kam, ke (“to have, hold”)).
Noun
haw (plural haws)
- Fruit of the hawthorn.
- (historical) A hedge.
Translations
Etymology 3
Unknown
Interjection
haw
- An instruction for a horse or other animal to turn left.
Translations
Verb
haw (third-person singular simple present haws, present participle hawing, simple past and past participle hawed)
- (of an animal) To turn left.
- This horse won't haw when I tell him to.
- To cause (an animal) to turn left.
- You may have to go to the front of the pack and physically haw the lead dog.
Derived terms
Antonyms
Etymology 4
Uncertain.
Noun
haw (plural haws)
- (anatomy) The third eyelid, or nictitating membrane.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.