▪ I. shaw, n.1 Now arch. and dial.
(ʃɔː)
Forms: 1 sceaᵹa, scaᵹa, 2 scauhe, scawe, 3–7 shawe, 4 schaȝe, 4–6 schawe, 4–6, 8–9 schaw, 5 scha(ghe, 6 Sc. pl. shauis, 8 shave, 9 (Kingsley) shaugh, 5– shaw.
[OE. sc(e)aᵹa wk. masc., corresp. to NFris. skage farthest edge of cultivated land (Outzen), ON. skage wk. masc., promontory (cf. sense 3 below), skaga to project; related to OE. sceacga shag n.1, and (by ablaut) to ON. skóg-r wood, scogh.]
1. A thicket, a small wood, copse or grove.
| 755–7 in Birch Cartul. Sax. (1885) I. 258 Terra illa juxta silvam quam dicunt Tocca sceaᵹa. 987 in Kemble Cod. Dipl. (1845) III. 229 Ðis syndon ða landᵹæmæro to Westwuda..of ðære hlywan suð onbutan færs scaᵹan on ða dic [etc.]. a 1200 Newminster Chartul. (1878) 75 Per has devisas, a rivulo propinquiore le Hangande-scauhe versus septentrionem. Ibid., Usque ad rivulum primo nominatum propinquiorem ab Hangandescawe. a 1300 Thrush & Night. xxi. in Rel. Ant. I. 244 Hy beth briȝttore ounder shawe, Then the day, wenne hit dawe. c 1325 Orpheo 242 In somer he lyveth by hawys, That on hauthorne growth by schawys. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2161 At a schaȝe syde. c 1386 Chaucer Cook's T. 3 Gaillard he was as Goldfynch in the shawe. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 333 Hou he to love untrewe was..And tok his lust under the schawe Ayein love and ayein his lawe. c 1400 Anturs of Arth. vi, Þei..suwene to þe souerayne within schaghes schene [v.rr. undur the scha schene, in cleues so clene]. c 1440 Bone Flor. 1504 Tymely as the day can dawe, He led her thorow a feyre schawe. c 1480 Henryson Mor. Fab., Cock & Fox 411 Ane lytill fra this foirsaid Wedowis hous, Ane thornie schaw thair wes of greit defence, Quheirin ane Foxe..Maid his repair. 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 516 Berdis schoutit in schaw, with thair schill notis. 1573 G. Harvey Letter Bk. (Camden) 127 In the shawe there lurkes an ilfavorid padd. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 15 Paslay quhilke is situat amang cnowis, grene woodis, schawis, and forrest fair. c 1730 Ramsay Eagle & Robin 57 Straicht to the schaw he spred his wing. 1742 De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. (ed. 3) I. 159 In a Shave belonging to the Estate of Sir John Hales. 1787 Burns Let. to W. Nicol 1 June, A new⁓blawn plumrose in a hazle shaw. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xliii, Saddle the gentleman's horse, and lead him..ahint the thorny shaw. 1849 Alb. Smith Pottleton Legacy xvi. 131 The wet cloggy footpaths through the shaws and copses. |
| collective. 1871 Kingsley At Last ii, Compared with which European parks..are but paltry scrub and shaugh. |
| transf. 1721 Ramsay Prospect of Plenty 21 O'er shaws of coral and the pearly sands. |
b. In the same sense, shaw of wood (arch.); also greenwood shaw. Cf. woodshaw (common in ME. verse).
| a 1400 Octouian 355 As he rood be a wodes schawe. 1462 in Finchale Priory Charters, etc. (Surtees) 95 An othir parcell o wod also cald the lewod on the estsid, and buttes atte northend apon a shaw o wod of the said William Tillyall, and atte estend apon the more. 1483 Cath. Angl. 334/1 A Schawe of wod, virgultum. 1562 T. Phaer æneid viii. X iiij, Among the rootes on ground in greenewood shawe A Sowe of syse vnseene..they sawe. 1600 Fairfax Tasso viii. lii, Under the greene wood shaw. 1837 R. Nicoll Poems (1842) 86 Through yonder greenwood shaw. 1893 Stevenson Catriona xxix. 346 One night in Scotland in a shaw of wood by Silvermills. |
2. spec. A strip of wood or underwood forming the border of a field. Cf. shaw v.1
| 1577 V. Leigh Surv. I ij, What shawes, or good hedge⁓rowes of wood be about euery fence. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 331 A Shaw, a Wood that encompasses a Close. 1736 J. Lewis Isle of Tenet (ed. 2) 38 Shave, a small Copse of Wood by a Field Side. 1798 J. Middleton Agric. Middlesex 136 Divided into small inclosures by high hedges and broad shaws. 1842 Darwin in F. Darwin Life & Lett. (1887) I. 320 A country..possessing a certain charm in the shaws, or straggling strips of wood, capping the chalky banks. 1859 Luard in Archæol. Cant. II. 6 There had been a shaw partly covering the place where we were digging. 1860 H. Ainsworth Ovingdean Gr. 8 A large close, encompassed by a shaw, or fence of low trees. |
3. (See quot.)
| 1813 J. Hogg Queen's Wake Notes 353 Shaw..likewise..denotes the snout, or brow of a hill; but the part so denominated is always understood to be..broad at the base, and contracted to a point above. |
▪ II. shaw, n.2 Sc.
(ʃɔː)
[Of obscure origin; perh. a use of shaw show n. with the sense ‘what shows above ground’.]
The stalks and leaves of certain plants, esp. potatoes and turnips.
| 1801 Farmer's Mag. Nov. 412, I..made trials as to the effects of cutting the haum, or shaw, as it is commonly called in Scotland, at different stages of its growth. 1812 Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. 258 The shaws or tops of the plants being removed. 1813 J. Hogg Queen's Wake 68 But mine was made of ane humloke schaw, And a stout stallion was he. 1851 Rural Cycl. IV. 178 Shaw, the haulm of potatoes, beans, and similar plants. 1887 A. S. Swan Gates of Eden xv. 202 The potato fields, with only heaps of sodden shaws and the long, newly-filled pits to tell of what had been. |
▪ III. shaw, n.3 Sc.
[? var. of show n.]
(See quot.)
| 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 163 The fore legs [of oxen] are usually farther apart than the hind, but the hind at times, when the shaw or cod is large and fat, is as much and even more apart. |
▪ IV. † shaw, v.1 Obs.
[f. shaw n.1]
trans. To fence or border (a field) with a shaw (n.1 2).
| 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey ii. ii. 49 Collaterage Actiue, as siding, furrowing, balking,..hedging or shawing, immounding, impayling [etc.]. Ibid., Compound Contiguall Boundage is more significant, as side-haying, head⁓shawing, &c. |
▪ V. shaw, v.2 Sc.
(ʃɔː)
[f. shaw n.2]
trans. To cut off the tops of (potatoes, turnips, etc.).
| 1882 J. Walker Sc. Poems 86 She maun shaw the frosty neeps. 1895 Crockett Men of Moss-Hags lvi, I heard the horrible crunch as of one that shaws frosty cabbages with a blunt knife. 1895 W. C. Fraser Whaups of Durley iv. 43 All were busy..shawing turnips. |
▪ VI. shaw
obs. form of shah, show v.