Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- interj. Used to express sympathy, tenderness, disapproval, or disbelief.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- See awe.
- An exclamation of surprise, disgust, or remonstrance.
- A common English digraph (pron. â), formerly interchangeable in most instances with au (which see), but now the regular form when final, and when medial before k, l, and n. Historically it represents, in older words, a with an absorbed guttural, as in
haw , law, maw, saw, saw, awn, dawn, etc.; , , a with an absorbed labial (w or v), as in awl, claw, raw, awk, hawk, crawl, etc.; a, au, or o in other positions and of various origin, as in yawn, yawl, lawn, pawn, pawl, bawl, etc. In later words often a mere accident of spelling. - A simplified spelling of awe.
Wiktionary
- interj. Used to express disappointment/dismay.
- interj. Used to express mild protest, entreaty, consternation, or disapproval.
- interj. Used to express affection.
Examples
“But this is so par for the course for South Carolina and the people are so thick headed there, that all you can do is sit in aw at how backwards they are.”
“We sat in aw as we listened to Hillary's speech and wondered aloud what she's up too.”
“Plus, I have another, less professional design job lined up, so I'll be working it again ... aw, YEAH!!”
“It ud be a bad thing to ha 'th' pits stop workin 'aw because I had na attended to 'em, an' gi'en th 'mesters a bit o' encouragement.”
“I'm hungerin 'aw th' toime – an 'I dunnot care to live; I wakken up i' th 'noight hungerin' an 'cryin' fur – fur what I ha 'not got, an nivver shall ha' agen.”
“But at ZooBorns, the success of any photo depends on how many w's people put at the end of the word aw, Eastman said.”
“Den when Gran'mudder Phoebe wuz finish wid aw de churning, she use'er pour wha 'clabber wuz left o'er in uh big ole wooden tray under uh tree dere close to de dairy en call aw dem little plantation chillun dere whey she wuz.”
“It's a nice word, a bonny word aw think; it luks nice in a church or a bazaar.”
Yorksher Puddin' A Collection of the Most Popular Dialect Stories from the Pen of John Hartley
“X - means kiss ... as signifying when two lips meet ... kisses, hugs when i was 13 i did that to everyone and so did my lad mate. aw, that is very sweet!”
“Th 'owd lad'll stick theer till he gets a bit too heavy, an' then he'll coom down wi 'a crash, ladder an' aw '-- but th' lass is a different mak '. ”
Lists
‘aw’ hasn't been added to any lists yet.
EditorMark A blog entry by me on the word and its confusion with "awe": http://editormark.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/awe-spreads-faster-than-dictionaries-can-keep-up/ Jun 10, 2010