Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1714-1754, 1806-1828, 1887-1929
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HAW, adj. Also ¶heowe; h(y)aave, hyauve, hyeave. See P.L.D. §137, §141.2. Deriv. hawee. [hɑ:; ne.Sc. çjɑ:v]
Of a pale, wan colouring, tinged with blue or green: 1. of things (Sc. 1710 T. Ruddiman Gl. to Douglas Aeneis; Abd. 1956, hyaave).Mry. 1806 R. Jamieson Ballads I. 242:
Like moonshine on the icy loch, Thin, cauld, and haw to see.Abd. 1828 P. Buchan Ballads I. 4:
Ere thro' and thro' the bonny ship's side, He saw the green haw-sea.Sh. 1922 J. Inkster Mansie's Röd 7:
Dis time he's wrate a sicht mair, an' apo' bonnie hawee blue paper tü.Abd. 1925 Grieg & Keith Last Leaves 275:
Old people would call badly-washed clothes "hyauve white."
Hence comb. ha(w) clay, a kind of clay formerly used for whitening doorsteps etc., gen. applied to a tough, clammy, pale-blue clay (Rxb. 1825 Jam., 1923 Watson W.-B., obsol.; s.Sc. 1956), but also applied in the St Boswells district to boulder-clay (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., obsol.).ne.Sc. 1714 R. Smith Poems 5:
His Eyes turn'd as a sullid glass, And like haw clay his hands and face.Bwk. 1887 Hist. Bwk. Nat. Club XI. 132:
A very fine yellow clay, or "ha' clay" formerly used for laying clay floors.Rxb. 1927 J. Turnbull Hawick 63:
The ha' clay was a blue "marl" got somewhere near Hawick Moss. The housewives used it for cleaning their old-fashioned fireplaces and hearthstones.
2. Of persons: pale, wan (Abd. 1748 R. Forbes Ajax 12; n.Sc. 1808 Jam.); with a livid, sallow or "blae" complexion (Bnff.7, Abd.7 1925, hyaave); of animals: having a mottled-gray hide, roan-coloured (Bnff.7 1929). Hence hyauve-leukin', haave-, sallow-complexioned (Sc. 1911 S.D.D. Add.; Abd.5 1931).Abd. 1754 R. Forbes Jnl. from London 28:
The third was an auld, wizen'd, haave coloured carlen.Mry. 1806 R. Jamieson Ballads I. 235:
Wi' haggit ee, and haw as death, The auld spae-man did stand.Bnff. 1825 Jam.:
Used to denote that kind of colour in which black and white are combined, or appear alternately; as, "a hyauve cow." When applied to the human head, it is synon. with Lyart.Abd. 1929 J. Alexander Mains & Hilly 4:
He's been growin' thin and hyaave i' the face.
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"Haw adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 5 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/haw_adj>
