haw
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
- Rhymes: -ɔː
Etymology 1Edit
Imitative
InterjectionEdit
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 notesEdit
- (an imitation of laughter): In the US, the spelling haw is rare, with ha being more common.
TranslationsEdit
VerbEdit
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 termsEdit
Etymology 2Edit
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”), коша́ра (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”)).
NounEdit
haw (plural haws)
- Fruit of the hawthorn.
- (historical) A hedge.
TranslationsEdit
fruit of hawthorn
Etymology 3Edit
Unknown
InterjectionEdit
haw
- An instruction for a horse or other animal to turn towards the driver, typically left.
TranslationsEdit
an instruction for a horse or other animal to turn towards the driver
VerbEdit
haw (third-person singular simple present haws, present participle hawing, simple past and past participle hawed)
- (of an animal) To turn towards the driver, typically to the 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 termsEdit
AntonymsEdit
Etymology 4Edit
Uncertain.
NounEdit
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 The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.