haw

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: Haw, Haw., hAw, and HAw

Translingual[edit]

Symbol[edit]

haw

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

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

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

Interjection[edit]

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, 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.
  2. An intermission or hesitation of speech, with a sound somewhat like "haw"; the sound so made.
Usage notes[edit]
  • (an imitation of laughter): In the US, haw is rare (it was more used in the past), with ha being more common.
Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

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[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

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[edit]

haw (plural haws)

  1. Fruit of the hawthorn.
    Synonym: hawthorn berry
  2. (historical) A hedge.
  3. (obsolete) Something that has little value or importance; a whit or jot.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

Assumed to be interjectory, but compare Old English hawian (“to observe, look”)[1]

Interjection[edit]

haw

  1. An instruction for a horse or other animal to turn towards the driver, typically left (See gee).
Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

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.
    Antonym: gee
  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.
    Antonym: gee
Derived terms[edit]

=References[edit]

  1. ^
    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[edit]

Late Middle English (denoting a discharge from the eye), of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Etymology 2 above, describing a berry.[1]

Noun[edit]

haw (countable and uncountable, plural haws)

  1. (countable, anatomy) The third eyelid, or nictitating membrane.
  2. (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[edit]

  1. ^
    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[edit]

Jingpho[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Burmese ဟော (hau:).

Verb[edit]

haw

  1. to preach

References[edit]

  • Kurabe, Keita (2016-12-31), “Phonology of Burmese loanwords in Jinghpaw”, in Kyoto University Linguistic Research‎[1], volume 35, DOI:10.14989/219015, ISSN 1349-7804, pages 91–128

Kalasha[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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

Noun[edit]

haw

  1. plough

Middle English[edit]

Noun[edit]

haw

  1. Alternative form of hawe

Scanian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

haw n (definite singular haweð, plural haw)

  1. sea

Derived terms[edit]

Zhuang[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.
Particularly: “Borrowed from Chinese 墟?”

Noun[edit]

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

  1. fair; market

Etymology 2[edit]

Borrowed from Chinese 虛 (MC hɨʌ).

Adjective[edit]

haw (1957–1982 spelling həɯ)

  1. weak; feeble
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