Definition of "daw"

daw¹

/dɔː/

noun
plural daws
1. A western jackdaw, Coloeus monedula, a passerine bird in the crow family (Corvidae), more commonly called jackdaw.
  Quotations
  The loud daw, his throat displaying, draws / The whole assembly of his fellow daws.
  a. 1687, Edmund Waller, To Mr Killigrew
  […] But I will wear my heart upon my sleeveFor daws to peck at: I am not what I am.
  c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]
2. (obsolete) An idiot, a simpleton; fool.
  Quotations
  Therefore to make complayntOf such mysadvysedParsons and dysgysed,Thys boke we have devysed, […] No good preest to offend,But suche dawes to amend, […]
  c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, page 62, lines 20–23
  A kind of choughs, Or thievish daws, sir, that have pick'd my purse Of eight score and ten pounds within these five weeks
  1610 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist, London: […] Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, […], published 1612; reprinted Menston, Yorkshire: The Scolar Press, 1970, (please specify the GB page), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)
  ‘Of course I do, you great daw.’ She kissed his beautiful mouth and moved his fringe out of his eyes.
  2002, Joseph O'Connor, Star of the Sea, Vintage, published 2003

daw²

/dɔː/

verb
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.
  Quotations
  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 hymAnd when the queen heard them say so she fell to the earth in a dead swoon. And then Sir Bors took her up, and dawed her; and when she was awaked she kneeled afore the three knights, and held up both their hands, and besought them to seek him(please add an English translation of this quotation)
  1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter 10, in Le Morte Darthur, book XI
3. (obsolete) To daunt; to terrify.

Definition of "daw"

daw1

noun

Quotations

Quotations

daw2

verb

Quotations

daw¹

daw²