Haws

[haw] /hɔ/

verb (used without object)
1.
to utter a sound representing a hesitation or pause in speech.
noun
2.
a sound or pause of hesitation.
Compare 2 (def 3).
[haw] /hɔ/
interjection
1.
(used as a word of command to a horse or other draft animal, usually directing it to turn to the left.)
verb (used with or without object)
2.
to turn or make a turn to the left:
The horse refused to haw.
[haw] /hɔ/
noun
1.
the fruit of the Old World hawthorn, Crataegus laevigata, or of other species of the same genus.
2.
the hawthorn.
[haw] /hɔ/
noun
1.
the thin, protective membrane at the inner corner of the lower eyelid of a horse, dog, etc.; nictitating membrane.
/hɔː/
noun
1.
the round or oval fruit (a pome) of the hawthorn, usually red or yellow, containing one to five seeds
2.
another name for hawthorn
/hɔː/
noun, interjection
1.
an inarticulate utterance, as of hesitation, embarrassment, etc; hem
verb
2.
(intransitive) to make this sound
3.
hem and haw, hum and haw, See hem2 (sense 3)
/hɔː/
noun
1.
(archaic) a yard or close
/hɔː/
noun
1.
the nictitating membrane of a horse or other domestic animal
n.

“enclosure,” Old English haga “enclosure, hedge,” from Proto-Germanic *hag- (cf. Old Norse hagi, Old Saxon hago, German Hag “hedge;” Middle Dutch hage, Dutch haag, as in the city name The Hague). See hag and hedge. Meaning “fruit of the hawthorn bush” (Old English) is perhaps short for *hægberie.
v.

“hesitate in speech,” 1580s, imitative. Related: Hawed; hawing. The noun in this sense is from c.1600. Haw-haw “style of affected enunciation” is from 1841, imitative.
see: hem and haw