English

Proper noun

Daw

1. A surname​.

English

Noun

daw ‎(plural daws)

1. A western jackdaw, Coloeus monedula; a bird of crow family, more commonly called jackdaw.
   • Waller

     The loud daw, his throat displaying, draws / The whole assembly of his fellow daws.

   • 1603, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Othello, Act 1

     [...]But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve

     For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.

2. (obsolete) An idiot, a simpleton; fool.
   • 2002, Joseph O'Connor, Star of the Sea, Vintage 2003, p.

     ‘Of course I do, you great daw.’ She kissed his beautiful mouth and moved his fringe out of his eyes.

Synonyms

• jackdaw, western jackdaw, Eurasian jackdaw, European jackdaw

Translations

Etymology 2

Middle English dawen, from Old English dagian ‎(“to dawn”), from Proto-Germanic *dagāną ‎(“to become day, dawn”), from Proto-Germanic *dagaz ‎(“day”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- ‎(“to burn”). More at day.

Verb

daw ‎(third-person singular simple present daws, present participle dawing, simple past and past participle dawed)

1. (obsolete outside Scotland) To dawn.
2. (obsolete) To wake (someone) up.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter 10, in Le Morte Darthur, book XI:

     ANd whanne the Quene herd them saye soo / she felle to the erthe in a dede swoune / and thenne syr Bors took her vp / and dawed her / & whanne she was awaked she kneled afore the thre knyghtes / and helde vp bothe their handes and besoughte them to seke hym

3. (obsolete) To daunt; to terrify.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)

Translations

Anagrams

• ADW
• AWD
• wad, WAD

Welsh

Alternative forms

• deith (colloquial)
• dêl (literary)

Verb

daw

1. third-person singular present / future of dod

Mutation