daw
n. countablen. a bird that looks like a small crow. It is usually called a jackdaw today.
n. a small, black-and-grey bird belonging to the crow family, Corvidae. While historically used alone, the term is now almost exclusively found as part of the compound 'jackdaw'.
The daw nested in the old church tower.
In the village, the old farmers still referred to the jackdaw simply as a daw when they saw it in the fields.
The poet used the image of a daw to symbolise a foolish person who tries to appear more important by wearing borrowed feathers.
From Middle English dawe, from Old English dāwe, from Proto-West Germanic dāhwā. Cognate with German Dahle, Dohle, dialectal Tach.
From Middle English dawen, from Old English dagian (“to dawn”), from Proto-West Germanic dagēn, from Proto-Germanic dagāną (“to become day, dawn”), from dagaz (“day”), from Proto-Indo-European dʰegʷʰ- (“to burn”). More at day, dawn.
From a substrate language (compare Baram Kayan daw < Proto-Kayanic daw and Eastern Penan daw < Proto-Kenyah ədʰaw), ultimately from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *qaləjaw. False cognate of English day.
Archaic or dialectal when used without the prefix 'jack-'.