Daw (?), n. [OE. dawe; akin to OHG. taha, MHG. tahe, tahele, G. dohle. Cf. Caddow.] Zool.
A European bird of the Crow family (Corvus monedula), often nesting in church towers and ruins; a jackdaw.
The loud daw, his throat
displaying, draw
The whole assembly of his fellow daws.
Waller.
⇒ The daw was reckoned as a silly bird, and a daw meant a simpleton. See in Shakespeare: -- "Then thou dwellest with daws too." (Coriolanus iv. 5, 1. 47.)
Skeat.
© Webster 1913.
Daw, v. i. [OE. dawen. See Dawn.]
To dawn. [Obs.] See Dawn.
© Webster 1913.
Daw, v. t. [Contr. fr. Adaw.]
1.
To rouse.
[Obs.]
2.
To daunt; to terrify.
[Obs.]
B. Jonson.
© Webster 1913.