haw-hawv.
a. intransitive. To utter haw haw; to laugh loudly or boisterously.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > types of laughter > laugh in specific manner [verb (intransitive)] > laugh loudly or coarsely
kenchc1225
fleer1553
checkle1627
roar1689
guffaw1721
horse-laugh1763
cachinnate1824
snort1825
haw-haw1833
yaw-haw1836
to laugh like a drain1948
1833 Lett. President's Tour by Major Jack Downing xii. 43 The President haw haw'd rite out.
1889 A. R. Hope in Boy's Own Paper 10 Aug. 715/3 The other rustics haw-hawed at their master's repartee.
b. transitive. To laugh at.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > derision, ridicule, or mockery > deride, ridicule, or mock [verb (transitive)] > laugh to scorn
laugheOE
laughOE
bilauhOE
to laugh to scorn (also bismer, hething, hoker)OE
to laugh or take to scorninga1400
deride1530
outlaugh1605
smile1608
arride1612
fleer1622
irride1637
haw-haw1862
1862 W. M. Thackeray Adventures of Philip xxxi, in Cornhill Mag. Mar. 260 It's good to see him haw-haw Bickerton.
1922 Z. Grey To Last Man x. 226 Some of the gang haw-hawed him.
Derivatives
haw-hawing n.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
haw-hawint.n.adj.
/ˈhɔːˈhɔː/ A. int.
An expression of hesitation uttered repeatedly in an affected tone. Also, the representation of loud or boisterous laughter.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > defective or inarticulate speech > utterance expressing hesitation [interjection]
hum1598
ha1609
haw1679
ahem1763
haw-haw1834
h'm1854
uh1962
1834 S. Smith Sel. Lett. Major Jack Downing 201 ‘Major call back Tany and Barry and Amos, and haw, haw, haw’, says the Gineral.
B. n.
The utterance of haw haw; a loud or boisterous laugh, a guffaw.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > defective or inarticulate speech > [noun] > stammer or stammering > sound or form used in
hum1469
hick1607
ha1612
hack1660
haw-haw1838
hesitation-form1933
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > types of laughter > [noun] > loud, coarse, or immoderate laughter > instance or outburst of
gawf?a1513
roar1675
horse-laugh1713
guffaw1720
ha ha1806
haw-haw1838
hee-haw1843
yaw-haw1912
1838 G. P. R. James Robber I. i. 14 The first indication of his coming was a peal of laughter, a loud ‘Haw, haw, haw’.
1889 A. R. Hope in Boy's Own Paper 10 Aug. 715/3 There was another chorus of haw-haws, which made Ronald's temper boil over.
C. adj.
Characterized by the utterance of haw haw as an affected expression of hesitation. Frequently applied to what is taken to resemble upper-class speech.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > [adjective] > affecting refinement
young-ladyfied1616
genteel1631
genteea1680
fal-lal1747
shabby-genteel1754
fine-ladylike1755
fine-ladyish1777
ladyish1830
silver-fork1831
haw-haw1841
lardy-dardy1861
la-di-dac1883
refained1925
the mind > language > speech > manner of speaking > [adjective] > affected or mincing > of speech
minced?1542
haw-haw1841
plummy1881
cultivated1908
pan-loafy1946
pan-loaf1947
1841 E. Bulwer-Lytton Night & Morning (1851) 314 ‘Hush!’ said the stranger, perfectly unconcerned, and regaining the dignity of his haw haw enunciation.
1866 Cornhill Mag. Oct. 464 The affected, lisping, and haw-haw fool.
1886 F. Harrison Choice Bks. 102 Lounging with that ineffable haw-haw air of your Rotten Row.
1900 Daily News 8 Oct. The Censor was one of those haw-haw officers, who look down upon men like me as unnecessary upon this earth.
1900 Daily News 20 Nov. 3/5 The answer I got was in Mr. Hales's ‘haw-haw’ style. ‘Ah've nothing to dah with Mafeking.’
1913 R. Brooke Let. 22 Nov. (1968) 535 Weedy Australian clerks, uncertain whether they most despise a ‘haw-haw Englishman’, or a ‘dam nigger’.
1941 Time 27 Jan. 22/1 Declaring that BBC announcers were ‘too haw haw’ in their diction, he is responsible for the nickname ‘Lord Haw-Haw’ given to Nazi propagandist William Joyce.
1953 K. Jackson Lang. & Hist. in Early Brit. 108 The language..must have seemed..upper class and ‘haw-haw’.
1968 Listener 9 May 615/2 Kuo-yü spoken in the next room can sound just like somewhat haw-haw English.
Derivatives
haw-ˈhawism n. the habit of affectedly uttering haw haw.
ΚΠ
1867 E. Yates Forlorn Hope I. x. 224 Forbes would assume a languid haw-hawism.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online December 2018).
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v.1833
int.n.adj.1834