haw
Translingual
Symbol
haw
- (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Hawaiian.
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, UK) IPA(key): /hɔː/
Audio (UK) (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
- 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, Olympia Press:
- 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.
- 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.
- 1720, William Congreve, An Impossible Thing
Usage notes
- (an imitation of laughter): In the US, haw is rare (it was more used in the past), with ha being more common.
Translations
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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
- 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)
- Fruit of the hawthorn.
- Synonym: hawthorn berry
- (historical) A hedge.
- (obsolete) Something that has little value or importance; a whit or jot.
- 1593, anonymous, 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
- 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
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Etymology 3
Assumed to be interjectory, but compare Old English hawian (“to observe, look”)[1]
Interjection
haw
- An instruction for a horse or other animal to turn towards the driver, typically left.
- Coordinate term: gee
Translations
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Verb
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.
- Antonym: gee
- To cause (an animal) to turn left.
- You may have to go to the front of the pack and physically haw the lead dog.
- Antonym: gee
Derived terms
- gee haw whimmy diddle
- haw and gee, haw and gee about
References
- 1889–91, “haw”, in William Dwight Whitney, editor, The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., OCLC 977635331:
Etymology 4
Late Middle English (denoting a discharge from the eye), of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Etymology 2 above, describing a berry.[1]
Noun
haw (countable and uncountable, plural haws)
- (countable, anatomy) The third eyelid, or nictitating membrane.
- (uncountable) A disease of the 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.
(See the entry for haw in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)
References
- 1889–91, “haw”, in William Dwight Whitney, editor, The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., OCLC 977635331:
Anagrams
- WHA, Wah, wah, wha
Jingpho
Etymology
Borrowed from Burmese ဟော (hau:).
Verb
haw
- to preach
References
- Kurabe, Keita (2016-12-31), “Phonology of Burmese loanwords in Jinghpaw”, in Kyoto University Linguistic Research, volume 35, DOI:, ISSN 1349-7804, pages 91–128
Kalasha
Etymology
From Sanskrit हल (hala), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰh₁ol-. Cognate with Lithuanian žúolis.
Noun
haw
- plough
Middle English
Noun
haw
- 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)
- sea
Derived terms
- hawblikk
- hawbørw
- hawfroan
- hawmáka
- hawpadda
Zhuang
Pronunciation
- (Standard Zhuang) IPA(key): /haɯ˨˦/
- Tone numbers: haw1
- Hyphenation: haw
Noun
haw (Sawndip forms 𰁴 or 𫣞 or ⿰土黑, 1957–1982 spelling həɯ)
- fair; market
Etymology 2
Borrowed from Chinese 虛 (MC hɨʌ).
Adjective
haw (1957–1982 spelling həɯ)
- weak; feeble