▪ I. † haw, n.1 Obs. exc. Hist.
(hɔː)
Forms: 1 haᵹa, 3 haȝe, hahe, 5 hawȝe, 4–6 hawe, 7 dial. haghe, 5– haw.
[OE. haᵹa, corresp. to MDu. hage, haghe, Du. haag, in same sense (whence 's Graven hage, the Count's Haw, the Hague), MLG. hage, ON. hagi (Sw. hage pasture-field, Da. have garden):—OTeut. *hagon-; co-radicate with OHG. hag, hac, enclosure, Ger. hag hedge, bush, coppice, fenced place; also OHG. hagan, MHG. hagen thorn, thornbush: cf. hay n.2, and hedge.]
A hedge or encompassing fence (OE.); hence, a piece of ground enclosed or fenced in; a messuage (OE.); generally, a yard, close, or enclosure, as in timber-haw. See also church-hawe.
| Beowulf (Z.) 2893 Heht ða þæt heaðo-weorc to haᵹan biodan. c 825 Kent. Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 70/15 Sepis, haᵹa. 1044 in Kemble Cod. Dipl. IV. 86 Se haᵹa binnan port þe æᵹebric himsylfan ᵹetimbrod hæfde. a 1250 Owl & Night. 585 Wane þu comest to manne haȝe, Þar þornes boþ and ris i-draȝe. Ibid. 1612 Heo hongeþ me on heore hahe. c 1386 Chaucer Pard. T. 527 Ther was a polcat in his hawe, That..hise capons hadde yslawe. 1442 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 387 For cariage of xxxj lodes of lome..in to the tembre haw. 1457 in Arnolde Chron. (1811) 72 Wharfes kranes tymbre hawes. 1594 Norden Spec. Brit., Essex 10 Certayne ladinges..wher they take in wood..which places are called vpon the Thames, westward, haws or woodwharves. 1674 Ray S. & E.C. Words 68 A Haw, (Kent.) a close. 1726 Dict. Rust. (ed. 3), Haw..a Close or small quantity of Land near a House; as Bean-haw, Hemp-haw. 1860 All Year Round No. 76. 614 St. Mary, called Wool-church, because in its haw or churchyard is the beam whereby wool is appointed to be weighed. |
b. transf.
| c 1430 Hymns Virg. (1867) 121 Then wolle the see wytdrawe, And wend to hys owyn hawe. |
c. attrib., as haw-yard.
| 1657 Howell Londinop. 58 A great Haw-yard, or garden, of old time called Coleman Haw. |
▪ II. haw, n.2
(hɔː)
Forms: 1 haᵹa, 3–7 hawe, (5 hawghe, 9 dial. hag, hague, haghe, haigh), 4– haw.
[OE. haᵹa, in pl. haᵹan.
App. the same word as prec.: perh. short for *hæᵹberie, i.e. hedge-berry; but this sense appears in none of the other langs., and the history of its development is not clear.]
1. The fruit of the hawthorn.
| a 1000 Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 204/20 Cinum, haᵹan. 13.. K. Alis. 4983 Other mete thai ne habben Bot hawen, hepen, slon, and rabben. c 1374 Chaucer Former Age 7 They eten mast hawes and swyche pownage. 1483 Cath. Angl. 179/1 An Hawghe, cinum. 1555 Eden Decades 87 He eate none other meate but only berryes and hawes. 1626 Bacon Sylva §737 Stores of Haws and Heps do commonly portend cold Winters. 1784 Cowper Task i. 120, I fed on scarlet hips and stony haws. 1883 F. M. Peard Contrad. xxxii, The old thorns..ruddy with a wealth of haws. 1883 Hampsh. Gloss., Hag, a haw, or berry of the hawthorn. 1883 Almondbury Gloss., Haghe, or Haigh, the haw. |
† 2. Used as a type of a thing of no value. Obs.
| c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 138/39 Gignalia, haᵹan. a 1100 Voc. Ibid. 269/5 Quisquilia, haᵹan. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 524 Al nas wurth an hawe. c 1340 Hampole in Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. (1867) 81 No latyn ne lawe may helpe an hawe. c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 659, I sette noght an haw Of his proverbes. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 99 Of suche fresch lustes set not an hawe. 1593 Jack Straw ii. in Hazl. Dodsley V. 394 We'll not leave a man of law, Nor a paper worth a haw. |
3. The hawthorn, Cratægus Oxyacantha. (Also applied with qualifying words to other species of Cratægus, or other similar shrubs.)
| [1557 Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 260 Testament Hawthorne, I, Sely Haw, whose hope is past.] 1821 Col. Trimble in Open Court (U.S.A.) XI. 244 Clearing away the haw, dogwood, and pawpaws. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. c, Hoary knoll of ash and haw. 1851 Longfellow Gold. Leg. iv. 19 Sweet is the air with the budding haws. 1884 Miller Plant-n., Haw,..Black, Viburnum prunifolium. May, or Apple, Cratægus æstivalis. Summer, Cratægus flava. |
† 4. A head or ear of grass. Obs.
[Etymologically perh. a different word.]
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 145 Wild Otes..beareth in the haw or head certain grains hanging down, which resemble small locusts. Ibid. 235 Then the haw or eare that it beareth, ought to be taken away. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Haw, the ear of oats. |
5. attrib., as haw-berry, haw-blossom; haw-grosbeak, the hawfinch.
| 1772–84 Cook Voy. (1790) V. 1787 We saw some currant, and hawberry bushes. 1838 Penny Cycl. XII. 67/1 Hawfinch. Haw Grosbeak, Grosbeak of the modern British. |
▪ III. haw, n.3
Also 6–7 hawe.
[Etymology uncertain.]
The nictitating membrane or ‘third eyelid’ of a horse, dog, etc., being a triangular cartilage lying just within the inner corner of the eye, which is capable of expansion, so as to sweep dust, etc. from the eye-ball.
The haw is liable to inflammation and temporary enlargement, and it was to this affected form, which the old farriers considered an ‘excrescence,’ that they usually applied the name.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §89 The hawe is a sorance in a horse eye, and is lyke gristell, and maye well be cutte oute, or els it wyll haue out his eye. 1587 L. Mascall Govt. Cattle ii. (1661) 131 The haw in the eye of the horse is a little white and hard gristle in the inner corner of the eye, and it will grow. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1763) 140, I take what the Farriers call the Haws, to proceed from a long and continued Defluxion of Rheum upon the Eye. 1829 Nat. Philos., Prelim. Treat. 30 (U.K.S.) A third eyelid..in the horse..called the haw; it is moistened with a pulpy substance..to take hold of the dust on the eyeball, and wipe it clean off. 1865 Youatt Horse viii. (1872) 159 The old farriers strangely misunderstood the nature and design of the haw. 1880 Times 5 June 6/5 A chief point in bloodhounds was the appearance and quality of the ‘haw’. 1893 H. Dalziel Diseases of Dogs (ed. 3) 62 Enlargement of the haw..This membrane sometimes becomes inflamed and enlarged, interfering with the sight and preventing the eyelids from closing. |
† b. transf. Applied to an excresence in the human eye. Obs.
| c 1450 ME. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 98 A charme for þe hawe in þe ye. c 1550 Lloyd Treas. Health (1585) F ij, The joyce of the Lyly rote put into thy eye taketh awaye the hawe. 1684 Lond. Gaz. No. 1915/4 Joshua Bugge, Aged 15 years..having a Haw or Speck on his left Eye. |
▪ IV. haw, n.4
see haw int.1 and n.4
▪ V. haw, a. Obs. exc. Sc.
Forms: 1 heawi, hęwi, hæwi, hawi, hæwen, 5 haa, 6– haw (8 Sc. haave).
[OE. háwi, hǽwi, héawi, whence hǽwen blue, discoloured.]
† a. Blue, azure; bluish, grayish- or greenish-blue; of a dull leaden blue. Obs. b. Discoloured, livid. Sc.
| a 700 Epinal Gloss. 221 C(a)erula, haeuui [Erf. haui]. c 725 Corpus Gloss. 444 C(a)erula, heawi. Ibid. 981 Glaucum, heauui, grei. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. ii, Hur hud of a haa hew. c 1450 Henryson Test. Cres. 257 Hawe as the leed, of colour nothing clere. 1513 Douglas æneis iii. i. 121 Crownit with garlandis all of haw see hewis. 16.. Sir P. Spens in Child Ballads iii. lviii. (1885) 28/2 He saw the green haw sea. 1768 Ross Helenore 23 (Jam.) Twa shepherds out of breath..and as haw as death. 1785 R. Forbes Poems in Buchan Dial. 8 (Jam.) He look'd sae haave as gin a dwam Had just o'ercast his heart. |
▪ VI. haw, int.1 and n.4
[Echoic.]
An utterance marking hesitation: cf. ha int. 3. Usually in collocation with hum. See also haw-haw.
| 1679 Hist. Somervilles in Ann. Lesmahagow (1864) 73 She had a little haugh in her speech. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 180 His frequent and pathetic hums and haws. a 1729 Congreve Wks. (1761) III. 459 (Jod.) If thro' any hums or haws, There haps an intervening pause. 1886 Pall Mall G. 27 Aug. 14/1 Pauses filled by a prolonged ‘haw’. |
▪ VII. haw, int.2 and n.5 dial. and U.S.
A call used to direct a horse or team to turn to the left.
| 1843 Knickerbocker XXI. 494 He admonishes them with his goad, and ejaculates, ‘Haw’. 1843 ‘R. Carlton’ New Purchase xxvi. 239 Whoas, gees and haws. 1856 J. C. Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 723/2 Horses—terms used in directing—... Cheshire... To left. Haw. 1864 Webster s.v., Haw, haw here;—words used by teamsters in guiding their teams. 1930 Amer. Speech V. 419 Haw, direction given to oxen to turn to the left. 1972 Even. Telegram (St. John's, Nwfndl.) 24 June 14/3 ‘Gee’ tells the dogs to take a right turn, and ‘Haw’ means left. |
▪ VIII. haw, v.1
[f. haw int.1]
intr. To utter ‘haw!’ as an expression of hesitation. Usually in the collocation hum (hem) and haw: see hum v.
| 1632 Massinger & Field Fatal Dowry iv. i, Nov. Ha? Bella. D'ee stand Humming and hawing now? 1739 Joe Miller's Jests cxiii, The Fellow was loath to speak, but humm'd and haw'd for a good Space. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) VII. 47 Such a humming and hawing caitiff. 1814 L. Hunt Feast of Poets 11 A whole court of Aldermen hawing and humming. 1884 W. C. Smith Kildrostan 62 Public meetings where no heart is, And a chairman haws and hums. |
▪ IX. haw, v.2 U.S. (but Eng. dial. in quot. 1911).
[f. haw int.2 and n.5]
a. intr. Of a horse or team: to turn to the left. Also fig. (see quot. 1864).
| 1846 Knickerbocker XXVII. 119 The plough-boy has hardly energy to cry out..‘Gee-haw, there, I tell you to haw, now.’ 1861 Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. IV. 99 They were required to plow lands of about fifteen rods in length, and ‘haw’ about. 1864 Webster s.v., To haw and gee, or haw and gee about, to go from one thing to another without good reason; to have no settled purpose; to be irresolute or unstable. (Colloq.) 1911 J. Masefield Everlasting Mercy 86 Now and then he seems to stoop To clear the coulter with the scoop, Or touch an ox to haw or gee. |
b. trans. To direct (a horse, etc.) to turn to the left. Also fig.
| 1864 Webster s.v., To haw and gee, or haw and gee about, to lead this way and that at will; to lead by the nose; to master or control. (Colloq.) 1867 [see gee v.2 b]. |
Hence hawing vbl. n.
| 1843 ‘R. Carlton’ New Purchase xvi. 119 After performing wonders on the journey from Philadelphia to the West in hawing and geeing. 1867 [see gee v.2 b]. |
▪ X. haw
obs. form of awe.
▪ XI. haw(e
obs. var. hoe.