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daw

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

Historical Examples

  • He who is connected with a "daw," or drab, has many troubles to put up with.

    The Proverbs of Scotland

    Alexander Hislop

  • When he getta his house he lock long tem at his daw, but was no answer.

  • All old Daw said was, “Do you know anything about her, policeman?”

    Mr. Witt's Widow

    Anthony Hope

  • Quhat better is the house that the Daw rises in the morning.

  • Mr. Daw himself, even as he showed the assay, admired it over and over.

    Young Wallingford

    George Randolph Chester

British Dictionary definitions for daw

daw

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

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper