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haw
1[ haw ]
verb (used without object)
- to utter a sound representing a hesitation or pause in speech.
noun
- a sound or pause of hesitation. Compare hem 2( def 3 ).
haw
2[ haw ]
interjection
- (used as a word of command to a horse or other draft animal, usually directing it to turn to the left.)
verb (used with or without object)
- to turn or make a turn to the left:
The horse refused to haw.
haw
3[ haw ]
noun
- the fruit of the Old World hawthorn, Crataegus laevigata, or of other species of the same genus.
- the hawthorn.
haw
4[ haw ]
noun
- the thin, protective membrane at the inner corner of the lower eyelid of a horse, dog, etc.; nictitating membrane.
Haw.
5abbreviation for
- Hawaii.
haw
1/ hɔː /
noun
- an inarticulate utterance, as of hesitation, embarrassment, etc; hem
verb
- intr to make this sound
- hem and haw or hum and hawSee hem 2
haw
2/ hɔː /
noun
- archaic.a yard or close
haw
3/ hɔː /
noun
- the nictitating membrane of a horse or other domestic animal
haw
4/ hɔː /
noun
- the round or oval fruit (a pome) of the hawthorn, usually red or yellow, containing one to five seeds
- another name for hawthorn
Word History and Origins
Origin of haw1
Origin of haw2
Origin of haw3
Origin of haw4
Word History and Origins
Origin of haw1
Origin of haw2
Origin of haw3
Origin of haw4
Idioms and Phrases
see hem and haw .Example Sentences
If I could sum it up in a few choice words, I would, but instead I hem and haw, before stumbling through some rambling rejoinder.
They back away and hem and haw and leave it to the lower courts to implement their decisions.
A chorus of haw haws, showed how delighted his fellow-clowns were with farmer Joe's story.
The Irish title of the letter a or haw is alif, as also is the Arabian: the Greek alpha is either alpa or alfa.
This seemed a good joke, and they all howled and haw-hawed gleefully.
Why do these—these people at the fort hem and haw and hesitate when they speak about him?
He looked like an animated drying-post, and the Dutch boy, in spite of his troubles, began to haw-haw wildly.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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