haw

See also: Haw and Haw.

English

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

Imitative

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!

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

     Hums or haws.

Usage notes

• (an imitation of laughter): In the US, the spelling haw is rare, with ha being more common.

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

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”)).

Noun

haw (plural haws)

1. Fruit of the hawthorn.
2. (historical) A hedge.

Translations

fruit of hawthorn

• Armenian: ալոճ (hy) (aloč)
• Bulgarian: глогина f (glogina)
• Dutch: meidoornbes
• Finnish: orapihlajanmarja

• French: cenelle (fr) f
• Georgian: კუნელი (ḳuneli)
• Japanese: 山査子 (ja)の (ja)実 (ja) (sanzashi no mi)
• Norman: bague f

hedge

• Dutch: haag (nl)

• French: haie (fr) f

Etymology 3

Unknown

Interjection

haw

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

Translations

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

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.

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

2. 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

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

Antonyms

• (to turn right): gee
• (to cause to turn right): gee

Etymology 4

Uncertain.

Noun

haw (plural haws)

1. (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.
(See the entry for haw in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Anagrams

• Wah, wah, wha

---

West Frisian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /haf/

Verb

haw

1. first person present-tense form of hawwe
2. imperative form of hawwe

See also

• ha