Definition of "haw" [haw]

• An utterance used by a speaker who is fumbling for words. (noun)
• To fumble in speaking. (verb-intransitive)
• The fruit of a hawthorn. (noun)
• A hawthorn or similar tree or shrub. (noun)
• A nictitating membrane, especially of a domesticated animal. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The wintry haw is burning out of season, crab of the thorn, a small light for small people, wanting no more from them but that they keep the wick of self-respect from dying out, not having to blind them with illumination."
• "You may thus, indeed, make your hall or mansion into a little fortified place, with fosse and counter-scarp, and covered way, and glacis; or at any rate, you may put a plain English haw-haw ditch and fence all round the sacred enclosure; and depend upon it that you will find the good effects of this extra expense in the anti-rheumatic tendencies of your habitation."
• "This membrane is commonly called the haw, and is susceptible of attacks of inflammation, which cause it to swell, frequently even closing up the eye."