haw 
things of no value ; equiv. to hawbcrri/ or haie- 
thorn-berry (cf. MD. haeghbesie) ; no AS. *ha?g- 
berie occurs. See haw 1 .] 1. The fruit of the 
hawthorn, Crata-giis Oxyacantha. 
In somer he lyveth by haitn/s, 
That on hauthorne growth by schawys. 
Sir Orpheo (Ritson's Metr. Rom., II.). 
2. The fruit of any of the species of Cratcegus. 
A lane noted for wild roses in summer, for nuts and 
blackberries in autumn, and even now possessing a few 
coral treasures in hips and haws. 
Charlotte JSronte, Jane Eyre, xii. 
3. The plant which bears such fruit: usually 
with some qualifying word denoting, for the 
most part, the character of the fruit. Thus, in 
America, the apple-haw is Cratcrgus cestivalis; the hogs- 
haw, C.brachyacantha; the parsley -haw, C.apiifolia; the 
pear-haw, C. tomentosa; the red or scarlet haw, C. coc- 
cinea ; the summer haw or yellow haw, C. flava, etc. 
4. The Viburnum prunifolium, the black haw of 
the United States. See Viburnum. 5f. Any 
berry. 
Behold the plants and trees ; they produce flowers, 
haws, and fruit. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 357. 
6f. Proverbially, a thing of no value. 
Al nas [ne was, was not] wurth an ham. 
ob. of Gloucester, p. 534. 
But al for noght ; I sette noght an hawe 
Of his proverbes, ne of his olde sawe. 
Chaucer, ProL to Wife of Bath s Tale, 1. 669. 
haw 3 (ha), . [< ME. haw, an excrescence in 
the eye; perhaps a particular use of haw%, a 
berry.] 1. An excrescence in the eye; spe- 
cifically, in farriery, a diseased or disordered 
condition of the third eyelid of a horse: gener- 
ally in the plural, haws. 2. The third eyelid, 
nictitating membrane, or winker of a horse. 
haw 4 (ha), v. i. [< ME. hawen, found only in 
comp. behawen, bihowen, observe, < AS. hdwian 
(or hawian f), intr., look, in comp. ge-hawian, 
be-hdwiaii, tr., look at, observe.] To look: used 
especially in the imperative, haw ! or look haw ! 
to call attention. [Prov. Eng.] 
haw 5 (ha), interj. [Appar. orig. the same as 
haw*, as used in the imperative to call atten- 
tion, but in use a var. of ho, whoa, etc., with a 
specialized meaning.] An exclamation used 
by a driver to his horses or oxen, to command 
them to turn to the left. See haw 5 , v. 
haw 5 (ha), v. [< hawS, interj. Cf. haw*.] I. 
intrans. To turn to the left: the opposite of gee : 
said of horses and cattle. 
II. trans. To turn or cause to come to the 
near side : as, to haw oxen. 
haw 6 t (ha), a. [< ME. hawe, < AS. hcewen, blue.] 
Blue; azure. 
Thro' and thro' the bonny ship's side, 
He saw the green haw sea. 
Sir Patrick Spens (Child's Ballads, III. 841). 
haw 7 (ha), interj. [The same as ha as a hesitat- 
ing utterance ; a drawling syllable, much used 
by unfluent speakers, but usually ignored in 
writing and print, except in novels, plays, and 
other writings aiming at verisimilitude of 
speech ; also written, if written at all, huh, and 
without aspiration aw, ah, uh, ur, er, etc.] An 
unmeaning syllable marking the pauses of hesi- 
tating speech. It takes various vocal forms, 
variously indicated in writing. See the ety- 
mology. 
haw 7 (ha), n. [< hawl, interj.'] An intermission 
or hesitation of speech marked by the unmean- 
ing syllable haw. 
For if through any hums and haws 
There haps an intervening pause. Congreve. 
haw 7 (ha), v. i. [< hawl, interj.'] To speak 
with hesitation and the interruption of drawling 
and unmeaning sounds : as, to hum and haw. 
The skill of lying . . . were to be obtained by industry 
You must not hum, nor haw, nor blush for 't. 
Steele, Lying Lover, 11. 1. 
Hawaiian (ha-wi'yan), a. and n. [< Hawaii 
(see def.), a native name, + -an.] I. a. Of or 
pertaining to the island or kingdom of Hawaii or 
the Sandwich Islands, a group of islands in the 
North Pacific about 2,100 miles west-southwest 
of San Francisco. 
II. n. 1. A native or citizen of Hawaii. 
2. The language of Hawaii. 
hawane, . The fruit of the palm Pritchardia 
Gaudichaudii. 
hawbuck (ha'buk), n. [Appar. < haw 1 , hedge, 
+ buck?.] An unmannerly lout; a clown. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
Bless my heart ! excuse me, Sir Richard to sit down 
and leave you standing ! 'Slife, sir, sorrow is making a 
hawbuck of me. Kingsley, Westward Ho, v. 
hawcubitet (ha'ku-bit), n. [A slang name, 
combining the equiv. mohawk, q. v., with Jaco- 
2742 
bite, another term exciting public interest at the 
time mentioned in the def.] One of a band of 
dissolute young men in London who swaggered 
about the streets at night during the closing 
years of the seventeenth century, insulting pass- 
ers, breaking windows, etc. ; a mohawk. 
hawebaket, n. [ME. : see def.] A word of un- 
certain meaning, found only in the following 
passage. From its apparent form, it is supposed to 
signify the baked berry of the hawthorn that is, coarse 
fare. It appears in the manuscripts sometimes as one 
word, sometimes as two words. 
I recche noght a bene, 
Though I come after him with hawebake ; 
I speke in prose, and lete him rymes make. 
Chaucer, 1'rol. to Man of Law's Tale, 1. 95. 
hawfinch (ha'finch), n. [< haw 1 + finch 1 .'] The 
hawthorn-grosbeak, Coccothraustes vulgaris, a 
common Eu- 
ropean frin- 
gilline bird, 
about 6 
inches long, 
with a very 
stout, turgid 
bill, the ends 
of the in- 
ner seconda- 
ries oblique- 
ly curved and 
truncated, 
and the plu- 
. 
variegated. 
See also cut under Coccothraustes. The name is ex- 
tended to sundry related American grosbeaks, as the even- 
ing grosbeak, tiesperophona mspertina, the rose-breasted 
grosbeak, Zamelodia or Habia fudoviciana, etc. 
haw-haw 1 (ha'ha'), interj. [A heavier form of 
ha-ha 1 , q. v.] An utterance accompanying 
loud, coarse laughter. 
haw-haw 1 (ha'ha'), ''' [< haw-haw 1 , inter}.] 
To laugh loudly and heavily; guffaw. 
Hawfinch (Cocfotkrattstcs 
I sat down in front of the General, and we haw-haufd, 
I tell you, for more than half an hour. 
Seba Smith, Major Downing's Letters, p. 189. 
haw-haw 1 (ha'ha'), . [< haw-haw 1 , interj.] A 
guffaw ; loud, coarse laughter. 
He laughed not very often, and when he did, with a sud- 
den, loud haw-haw, hearty, but somehow joyless, like an 
echo from a rock. S. L. Stevenson, PastoraL 
haw-haw 2 (ha-ha'), . Same as ha-hd*. 
hawk 1 (hak), n. [< ME. haul; a contraction 
(due to Scand. or LG.) of reg. ME. havek, havec, 
havok (see havoc, havock), < AS. hafoc, hafuc, 
haafoc = OS. habhoc (in comp. proper names) = 
Pries, hauk = D. havik = MLG. havek, LG. ha- 
wck, hai'k = OHG. habuch, habich, MHG. habich, 
habech, hebech, G. habich t = Icel. haukr = Sw. 
hok = Dan. hog, a hawk; perhaps, with suffix 
as in Goth, ahaks, a dove, OHG. kranuh, G. 
kranich, a crane, from the root *7i/of AS. heb- 
ban, E. heave, in its early sense of ' take,' ' seize,' 
as in L. capere (cf. L. accipiter, a hawk, usually 
derived from caper e ; but see accipiter).] 1. A 
diurnal bird of prey which does not habitually 
feed upon carrion: contrasted with owl and with 
vulture, (a) In a strict technical sense, any species of 
the subfamily Accipitrince or either of the genera Accipi- 
ter and Astur, having rounded wings which extend, when 
folded, about two thirds the length of the tail ; the tail 
long and square or little rounded ; the shank compara- 
tively long and naked or little feathered ; and the beak not 
toothed. Such are the sparrow-hawk, Accipiter niiut of 
Europe, the European goshawk, Astur palutnbarius, and 
many others, found in all parts of the world. They are of 
medium and small size, the goshawks being among the 
largest, and prey for the most part on humble quarry, 
which they capture by chasing or raking after it, not 
by pouncing upon it. In this sense hawk is contrasted 
with falcon, eagle, kite, buzzard, etc. See Accipitrinct', 
and cut under Astur. (b) Any diurnal bird of prey of the 
family Falconidce, including eagles, buzzards, kites, etc. 
(c) Any bird used in falconry : as, a noble or ignoble ha irk. 
See/otcon. 
He went on haukynge by the ryver syde 
And let his haukes flee. 
Lytell Geste of Bobyn Bode (Child's Ballads, V. 101). 
Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch ; 
Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth ; . . . 
1 have perhaps some shallow spirit of judgment. 
Skak., 1 Hen. VI., it 4. 
' ' What colour were his hawks ? " she says, 
" What colour were his hounds? " 
Young Johnstone (Child's Ballads, II. 295). 
The wild hawk stood with the down on his beak, 
And stared, with his foot on the prey. 
Tennyson, The Poet's Song. 
2. With a specifying term, some bird that 
hawks for its prey on the wing. Thus, in the 
United States, the goatsuckers of the genus Chordeilen 
are commonly called niyht-hateks, The night-jar, Cap- 
rimulgus europceus, is locally called dor-, gnat-, moth-, 
night-, and screech-hawk; and the swift is sometimes 
hawkbill 
called hawk-swallow. See cut under goatsucker. Black 
hawk, the American rough-legged hawk or black buz- 
zard, Archibnteo layoputt nancti-juhannis, in its melanis- 
tic phase. See cut under Archibuteo. Hawk's glove. 
See glare. Hawk's lure, in her. See lure. IgnoDle 
hawks, those hawks which have no tooth and rake after 
the quarry. They are Accipitrimi 1 . Make-hawk, a tr;iiri- 
ed and steady hawk flown with young birds to teach them 
to take the quarry. Noble hawks, those hawks which 
have a toothed beak and plunge down upon or stoop to the 
quarry, as any falcon ; the Falaminir. Passage hawk, 
a hawk captured when on its migration. See peregrine. 
Red hawk, in falconry, a hawk of the first year, in its 
young plumage. Sharp-shinned hawk, the Ameri- 
can Accipiter fuscus, a small true hawk with extremely 
slender shanks, corresponding to that which is called 
sparrow-hawk in England. [U. S.] TO know a hawk 
from a hand-Saw. See Iiaml-xaii'. (See also fish-hawk, 
hen-hawk, inarxh-haiftt, fiytnin-hinri,; xin<jitifi-hau'k, spar- 
row-hawk, squirrel-hawk.) = Syn. Hmrk, Falcon. Haick 
is the most general and indefinite name of a bird of prey. 
It seems to have at first distinguished the birds so desig- 
nated from carrion-feeding kinds and from those that prey 
by night (vultures and owl*), and then to have been applied 
to those which could be trained that is, used in the sport 
of hawking or falconry. Its nearest synonym is falcon ; 
and since all hawks were formerly placed in one genus, 
Falco, hawk and falcon became interchangeable book- 
names for most members of the family Falconidce. But, 
again, the hawks used in falconry were of two series, re- 
spectively designated noble and ignoble, corresponding to 
two technical subfamilies of Falconidce. The name/afcon 
became, therefore, technically restricted to the former of 
these series, the subfamily Falconinct, while hawk was 
coinctdently applied to the other, Accipitrince, alone. 
hawk 1 (hak), v. i. [< hawk 1 , n.] 1. To hunt 
birds or small animals by means of hawks or 
falcons trained for the purpose ; practise hawk- 
ing; engage in falconry. 
A little river . . . much frequented by fowle, and rigor- 
ously preserved for the Grand Signiors pleasure ; who or- 
dinarily hawks thereon. Sandyx, Travailes, p. 29. 
An a man have not skill in the hawking and hunting 
languages now a dayes, I'll not give a rush for him. 
JJ. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, i. 1. 
2. To fly in the manner of the hawk; soar; 
take prey in the air. 
Now liairkg aloft, now skims along the flood. 
Dryden. 
When the swallows are seen hawking very high, it is a 
good indication ; the insects upon which they feed venture 
up there only in the most auspicious weather. 
J. Burroughs, The Century, XXV. 675. 
To hawk at, to fly at ; attack on the wing. 
Lord L. 'Tis my wonder 
Two animals should hawk at all discourse thus. 
B. Jonson, New Inn, 11. 2. 
I had rather see a wren hawk at a fly, 
Than this decision. 
Fletcher and another, Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 3. 
hawk 2 (hak), v. t. [Due to the older noun, 
hawker^, q. v. ; so peddle, from peddler. Cf. 
ftwcfc 2 .] To offer for sale J>y outcry in a street 
or other public place, or from door to door; 
convey through town or country for sale : as, 
to hawk brooms or ballads. 
His works were hawked in every street. Sw\ft. 
Thou goest still amongst them, seeing if, peradventnre, 
thou can'st hawk a volume or two. Lamb, All Fools' Day. 
I hear thee not at all, or hoarse 
As when a hawker hawks his wares. 
Tennyson, The Blackbird. 
I come not of the race 
That hawk their sorrows in the market-place. 
Lowell, To my Fire. 
hawk 3 (hak), v. [Formerly also hauk; imita- 
tive, like Dan. harke, Sw. harka, W. hochi, hawk. 
Cf. also cough, and words there cited.] I. in- 
trans. To make an effort to raise phlegm from 
the throat. 
Touch. Come, sit, sit, and a song. . . . 
1 Page. Shall we clap into 't roundly, without hawking, 
or spitting, or saying we are hoarse? 
Shak., As you Like it, v. 3. 
If he shou'd come before I wou'd have him, I'll come be- 
fore him, and cough and hauk soundly, that you may not 
be surpriz*d. Wycherley, Gentleman Dancing-Master, v. 1. 
II. trans. To raise by hawking: as, to hawk 
up phlegm. 
hawk 3 (hak), . [< hawkS, v.] An effort to 
raise phlegm from the throat. 
hawk* (hak), . [Origin uncertain ; perhaps a 
particular use of hawk 1 (?).] In building, a small 
quadrangular board with a handle underneath, 
used by plasterers to hold the mortar. 
hawk-bell (hak'bel), n. A small bell made to 
be attached to the leg of a hawk : used in fal- 
conry. These bells are of the form of a sleigh- 
bell, and are fastened on the hawk by the var- 
vels or rings. 
hawkbill (hak'bil), n. 1. The caret, or hawk- 
billed sea-turtle, Eretmochelys imtnicata. It is 
from this turtle that tortoise-shell is obtained. 
Also called hawk's-bill. See cut under Eretmo- 
chelys. 2. A pair of pliers with curved nose, 
used to hold pieces in soldering them with a 
blowpipe. 
