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daw

[daw]
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noun
  1. jackdaw.
  2. Obsolete. simpleton; fool.

Origin of daw

1400–50; late Middle English dawe; compare Old High German taha
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for daws

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • The world knew; his heart was on his sleeve for daws to peck at.

    The Music Master

    Charles Klein

  • We do not “wear our hearts” on our sleeve “for daws to peck at!”

    She and I, Volume 2

    John Conroy Hutcheson

  • How they would chatter over it like a pair of daws in the same nest.

    Patsy

    S. R. Crockett

  • "But not for daws to peck at—that is the heart," laughed Mr. Ayrton.

    Phyllis of Philistia

    Frank Frankfort Moore

  • He had a warm heart, although he did not wear it on his sleeve for daws to peck at.

British Dictionary definitions for daws

daw

noun
  1. an archaic, dialect, or poetic name for a jackdaw

Word Origin

C15: related to Old High German taha
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for daws

daw

n.

early 15c., from Proto-Germanic *dakhwo (cf. Old High German taha, German Dohle), perhaps imitative of bird's cry. Medieval Latin tacula, Italian taccola are said to be Germanic loan words.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper