haw

See also: Haw, Haw., hAw, and HAw

Translingual

Symbol

haw

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Hawaiian.

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, UK) IPA^(key): /hɔː/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American, US) IPA^(key): /hɔː/
• Rhymes: -ɔː

Etymology 1

From Middle English ha (interjection). Compare Old Norse há (interjection), Middle Low German ha, hā (interjection), Old High German aha, hei (interjection).

Interjection

haw

1. 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!

   • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC:

     The bitter laugh laughs at that which is not good, it is the ethical laugh. The hollow laugh laughs at that which is not true, it is the intellectual laugh. Not good! Not true! Well well. But the mirthless laugh is the dianoetic laugh, down the snout — Haw! — so.

2. An intermission or hesitation of speech, with a sound somewhat like "haw"; the sound so made.
   • 1720, William Congreve, An Impossible Thing:

     Hums or haws.

Usage notes

• (an imitation of laughter): In the US, haw is rare (it was more used in the past), with ha being more common.

Derived terms

• gee and haw
• gee haw whammy diddle
• haw-haw
• hee-haw
• hee haw
• yaw-haw
• yee-haw

 

Translations

an imitation of laughter

• Dutch: ha (nl)
• Finnish: hah (fi)

Verb

haw (third-person singular simple present haws, present participle hawing, simple past and past participle hawed)

1. To stop, in speaking, with a sound like haw; to speak with interruption and hesitation.

Derived terms

• hum and haw, hem and haw

Etymology 2

From Middle English hawe, from Old English haga (“enclosure, hedge”), from Proto-Germanic *hagô (compare West Frisian haach, Dutch haag, German Hag (“hedged farmland”), Norwegian Bokmål hage (“garden”)), from Proto-Indo-European *kagʰom (compare Welsh cae (“hedge”), Latin caulae (“sheepfold, enclosure”), cohum (“strap between plowbeam and yoke”), Russian кош (koš, “tent”), коша́ра (košára, “sheepfold”), Sanskrit कक्ष (kakṣa, “curtain wall”)), from *kagʰ- 'to catch, grasp' (compare Welsh cau (“to clasp”), Oscan kahad (“may he seize”).

Noun

haw (plural haws)

2. Fruit of the hawthorn.

   Synonym: hawthorn berry

3. (historical) A hedge.
4. (obsolete) Something that has little value or importance; a whit or jot.
   • 1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act II:

     wele not leaue a man of lawe,
     Nor a paper worth a hawe,
     And make him worſe than a dawe,
     That ſhall ſtand againſt Iacke Strawe.

Derived terms

• apple haw (Crataegus aestivalis)
• black haw
• crimson haw (Crataegus biltmoriana)
• downy haw
• Haw Creek
• hawthorn
• hog's haw (Crataegus brachyacantha)
• mayhaw (Crataegus aestivalis)
• parsley haw (Crataegus marshallii)
• pear haw (esp. Crataegus tomentosa)
• possum haw
• purple haw (Condalia obovata)
• red haw
• rose haw
• scarlet haw (esp. Crataegus biltmoriana)
• Shawnee haw (Vibrnum nudum)
• summer haw (Crataegus aestivalis)
• swamp haw (Viburnum nudum)

Translations

hawthorn berry — see hawthorn berry

hedge

• Dutch: haag (nl)
• French: haie (fr) f

Etymology 3

Assumed to be interjectory, but compare Old English hawian (“to observe, look”)

Interjection

haw

1. An instruction for a horse or other animal to turn towards the driver, typically left.

   Coordinate term: gee

Translations

an instruction for a horse or other animal to turn towards the driver

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嗬 (zh) (hē)

• Czech: čehý (cs)
• Dutch: linksom (nl)
• French: dia (fr)
• German: hü(st)
• Polish: wiśta (pl)
• Portuguese: ôa, ôô
• Romanian: hăis (ro)
• Slovak: čihí
• Ukrainian: соб (uk) (sob)

Verb

haw (third-person singular simple present haws, present participle hawing, simple past and past participle hawed)

1. (of an animal) To turn towards the driver, typically to the left.

   Antonym: gee

   This horse won't haw when I tell him to.

2. To cause (an animal) to turn left.

   Antonym: gee

   You may have to go to the front of the pack and physically haw the lead dog.

Derived terms

• gee haw whimmy diddle
• haw and gee, haw and gee about

 

References

• “haw”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Etymology 4

Late Middle English (denoting a discharge from the eye), of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Etymology 2 above, describing a berry.

Noun

haw (countable and uncountable, plural haws)

1. (countable, anatomy) The third eyelid, or nictitating membrane.
2. (uncountable) A disease of the nictitating membrane.

Anagrams

• WHA, Wah, wah, wha

Jingpho

Etymology

Borrowed from Burmese ဟော (hau:).

Verb

haw

1. to preach

References

• Kurabe, Keita (2016 December 31) “Phonology of Burmese loanwords in Jinghpaw”, in Kyoto University Linguistic Research‎^[1], volume 35, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 91–128

Kalasha

Etymology

From Sanskrit हल (hala), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰh₁ol-. Cognate with Lithuanian žúolis.

Noun

haw

1. plough

Maltese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aw/

Adverb

haw

1. Alternative form of hawn: here

Middle English

Noun

haw

1. Alternative form of hawe

Scanian

Etymology

From Old Norse haf, from Proto-Germanic *habą.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [hɑ́ː]

Noun

haw n (definite singular haweð, plural haw)

1. sea

Derived terms

• hawblikk
• hawbørw
• hawfroan
• hawmáka
• hawpadda

 

Zhuang

Pronunciation

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /haɯ˨˦/
• Tone numbers: haw¹
• Hyphenation: haw

Etymology 1

Noun

haw (Sawndip forms 𰁴 or 𫣞 or ⿰土黑, 1957–1982 spelling həɯ)

1. fair; market

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Chinese 虛 (MC xjo).

Adjective

haw (1957–1982 spelling həɯ)

1. weak; feeble