the.com/haw
The pause before 'yes' that lawyers and horses have in common.
means A hesitating sound people make while fumbling for words, or the red berry-fruit of the hawthorn tree, or the left-turn command given to a horse or ox.
from These are really separate words that collided into one spelling. The hesitation 'haw' (as in 'hem and haw') is imitative, just a mouth-noise for stalling, first written down around the 1600s. The berry sense comes from Old English 'haga,' meaning hedge or enclosure — a hawthorn was literally the 'hedge-thorn,' and its fruit inherited the name. The plow-command 'haw,' used to steer a horse or ox leftward, is its own separate bit of farmyard vocabulary, likely just a sharp, easy-to-shout syllable invented for the job, paired with 'gee' for right.
- origin
- echoes hesitation sound, like hem and haw
- botany
- also the fruit of the hawthorn tree
- horse command
- means turn left, not stop
- eye anatomy
- a haw is also a third eyelid in animals