daw

[ daw ]

noun
  1. Obsolete. simpleton; fool.

Origin of daw

1
1400–50; late Middle English dawe; compare Old High German taha

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use daw in a sentence

  • Daws told the Post that he has no recollection of ever having spoken to Goodall—a conversation one imagines he would remember.

  • This may be seen in daws, choughs, pipits, and many other species.

    Birds and Man | W. H. Hudson
  • A girl that wears her heart on a chain is likely to have daws pecking at it, isn't she?

    The Main Chance | Meredith Nicholson
  • They were poor creatures, the daws who pecked at that manly heart, so stanch and warm and constant.

    The Martian | George Du Maurier
  • There are also to be met with in London a few solitary vagrant daws which in most cases are probably birds escaped from captivity.

    Birds in London | W. H. Hudson
  • To return to the subject of the beautiful albino daws, and the numbers sometimes seen in our bird markets.

    Birds in London | W. H. Hudson

British Dictionary definitions for daw

daw

/ (dɔː) /


noun
  1. an archaic, dialect, or poetic name for a jackdaw

Origin of daw

1
C15: related to Old High German taha

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012