▪ I. daw, n.
(dɔː)
Also 5–8 dawe, 6–8 Sc. da.
[Known only from the 15th c. (so the compound ca-daw, caddow): its form points to an OE. *dawe (:—daˈwā from daȝˈwā), in ablaut relation to OHG. tâha, MHG. tâhe (Gothic type *dêhwô, OTeut. *dæ̂hwâ:—ˈdēhwā). Mod. HG. dialects have dähi, däche, dacha; MHG. shows a dim. form tâhele (OHG. *tâhala), mod.G. dahle, since 18th c. dohle; whence med.L. tacula, It. taccola.]
1. A small bird of the crow kind (Corvus monedula); now commonly called jackdaw.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) IV. 307 A poor sowter informede a dawe to speke. 1530 Palsgr. 212/1 Dawe, a foule, corneille. 1604 Drayton Owle 188 The theevish Daw, and the dissembling Pye. 1713 Swift Poems, Salamander, Pyes and daws are often stil'd With christian nick-names like a child. 1851 Carlyle Sterling i. iii. (1872) 14 Old ruinous castles with their ivy and their daws. |
2. fig. Applied contemptuously to persons. † a. A silly fellow, simpleton, noodle, fool. Obs.
| c 1500 Yng. Children's Bk. 140 in Babees Bk. (1868) 25 At thi tabull noþer crache ne claw, Than men wylle sey þou arte A daw. 1560 Ingelend Disob. Child in Hazl. Dodsley II. 285, I never saw One..in so easy a matter..thus play the daw. 1563 Homilies ii. Idolatry iii. (1859) 236 O seely, foolish, and dastardly daws. 1608 J. Day Law Trickes i. i, How the daw Scoures ore his rustie phrases. |
b. A lazy person, sluggard; c. An untidy woman, slut, slattern. Sc.
| c 1460 Towneley Myst. 26 Bot if God help amang I may sit downe daw to ken. 1500–20 Dunbar Dance 7 deidly Synnis 71 Mony slute daw and slepy duddroun. 1513 Douglas æneis xiii. Prol. 184, I will my cunnand kepe, I will nocht be a daw, I will nocht slepe. 1598 Fergusson Sc. Prov., A year a nurish, seven year a da. 1768 Ross Helenore 135 (Jam.) But I see that but spinning I'll never be braw, But gae by the name of a dilp or a da. 1862 A. Hislop Prov. Scot. 16 A morning's sleep Is worth a fauld o' sheep To a hudderin-dudderin daw. |
d. With reference to the fable of the jay in peacock's plumes.
| 1731 Fielding Mod. Husb. ii. ii, That ever Heav'n shou'd make me father to such a drest up daw! |
3. Comb., as † dawcock, lit. a male jackdaw; fig. = sense 2 a; † dawpate = sense 2 a.
| 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. xcii, Where *dawcocks in doctrine have dominacioun. 1861 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 621 Who brought hither this fool in a play; this very daw-cock to lead the dance. |
| a 1529 Skelton Agst. Garnesche 94 Lyke a doctor *dawpate. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epig. (1867) 187 Thou arte a very dawe pate. |
▪ II. daw
obs. form of dew; see also dawe, day.
▪ III. † daw, v.1 Obs. exc. Sc.
(dɔː)
Forms: 1 daᵹian, 2–3 daȝen, 3–5 dawe(n, 6– daw.
[OE. daᵹian, corresp. to MDu. daghen, Du. and LG. dagen, OHG. tagên, G. tagen, to become day, f. WGer. dag- day. Since the OE. change of a to æ did not take place in the vb., the latter is daw, against the n. day: cf. draw, dray, saw, say, etc. In northern dial. sometimes inflected dew, dawen, after the strong verbs blow, snow, etc. In 16th c. Sc. erroneously spelt dall after fall, fa', etc.]
1. intr. To dawn. a. with it as subject.
| c 900 Bæda's Eccl. Hist. iv. x, Ðonne hit daᵹian ongynneþ. c 1205 Lay. 1694 A-marwen þo it dawede. c 1350 Will. Palerne 1791 Til it dawed to day. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Ninian 1417 One þe morne, as It dew day. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xvii. ii, Within a whyle it dawyd. |
b. with day (or morning) as subject.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 103 Ac alse wat swo þe þridde dai dageð. c 1375 Barbour Troy-bk. ii. 797 And whene þe day was dawyne lyght. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 471 Tyl þe day dawede these damseles daunsede. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 365 Vpon the morne airlie, quhen the day dew. 1513 Douglas æneis xiii. Prol. 182 As menstralis playng The joly day now dawis. a 1605 Montgomerie Poems, The Night is neir gone 1 Hay! nou the day dauis. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. x. (N.), The other side from whence the morning daws. 1789 Burns Happy Trio, The cock may craw, the day may daw. 1837 R. Nicoll Poems (1842) 97 Nor hamewith steers till morning daw. |
c. fig.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 352 Hwon he þet is ower lif daweð and springeð ase þe dawunge efter nihtes þeosternesse. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xviii. 179 Ioye bygynneth dawe. |
2. To recover from a swoon, ‘come to’; to awake from sleep; = adaw v.1 1.
| c 1314 Guy Warw. (A.) 558 Adoun he fel a-swounie, & when he gan to dawei [etc.]. 1674–91 Ray N.C. Words 19 To Daw, in common speech is to awaken: to be dawed, to have shaken off sleep, to be fully awakened. |
3. trans. To rouse or awaken from sleep or a swoon; to revive, ‘bring to’; = adaw v. 2.
| 1470–85 Malory Arthur xi. x, The Quene..felle to the erthe in a dede swoune, and thenne syr Bors took her vp, and dawed her. 1530 Palsgr. 507/2, I dawe from swounyng, Je reuiue, je resuscite. 1562 A. Broke Romeus & Jul. in Hazl. Shaks. Libr. (1875) I. 179 She thought to breake her slepe..She thought to daw her now as she had done of olde. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. vi. 90 Thinking her to daw Whom they supposed faln in some inchanted swound. |
▪ IV. † daw, v.2 Obs. rare.
[f. daw n.]
intr. ? To play the ‘daw’ or fool.
| 1596 Sir J. Smythe in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 92 That I would..ryde lobbinge and dawinge to rayle at your Lordship. |
▪ V. † daw, v.3 Obs. rare.
[Aphetic f. adaw v.2, q.v.]
trans. To daunt, subdue, frighten.
| 1616 B. Jonson Devil an Ass iv. iv, You daw him too much, in troth, Sir. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 545 External force imprints Truth and Falshood, Superstition and Religion alike upon the dawed spirits of men. |
▪ VI. daw, a.
(dɔː)
[Of obscure origin; Ir., Gael. dath ‘colour’ has been suggested.]
Of a pale primrose colour, as the eyes of certain game fowl.
| 1856 W. B. Tegetmeier Poultry Bk. xiii. 100 Black-breasted reds..have a fine long head; daw eyes. Ibid., The required ‘daw eye’..is that which resembles the grey eye of a jackdaw. 1873 L. Wright Bk. Poultry 277 There never was a Malay with red eyes; they are invariably pearl, yellow, or daw. 1913 W. Bateson Mendel's Princ. Heredity (ed. 3) 110 Malay fowls are peculiar in having a pale, yellowish white iris—the ‘daw-eye’ of fanciers. |