"hum and haw" meaning in All languages combined

See hum and haw on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

IPA: /ˌhʌm ənd ˈhɔː/ Forms: hums and haws [present, singular, third-person], humming and hawing [participle, present], hummed and hawed [participle, past], hummed and hawed [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|hum<> and haw<>}} hum and haw (third-person singular simple present hums and haws, present participle humming and hawing, simple past and past participle hummed and hawed)
  1. (British, idiomatic) To procrastinate; to take a long time before doing something or taking a decision. Tags: British, idiomatic Synonyms: hem and haw [US], hum and ha [UK], um and ah [Australia] Translations (Procrastinate indecisively): soutaa ja huovata (Finnish)

Alternative forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "hums and haws",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "humming and hawing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "hummed and hawed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "hummed and hawed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "hum<> and haw<>"
      },
      "expansion": "hum and haw (third-person singular simple present hums and haws, present participle humming and hawing, simple past and past participle hummed and hawed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
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          "name": "English coordinated pairs",
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            "Terms by etymology"
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        },
        {
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          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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        },
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        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "We hummed and hawed before finally deciding to buy this house.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To procrastinate; to take a long time before doing something or taking a decision."
      ],
      "id": "en-hum_and_haw-en-verb-fEwDWA1X",
      "links": [
        [
          "procrastinate",
          "procrastinate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(British, idiomatic) To procrastinate; to take a long time before doing something or taking a decision."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "US"
          ],
          "word": "hem and haw"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "UK"
          ],
          "word": "hum and ha"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "Australia"
          ],
          "word": "um and ah"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Procrastinate indecisively",
          "word": "soutaa ja huovata"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌhʌm ənd ˈhɔː/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "hum and haw"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "hums and haws",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "humming and hawing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "hummed and hawed",
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        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "hummed and hawed",
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        "past"
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  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      },
      "expansion": "hum and haw (third-person singular simple present hums and haws, present participle humming and hawing, simple past and past participle hummed and hawed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
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        "English terms with usage examples",
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        "Pages with 1 entry",
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        "Terms with Finnish translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "We hummed and hawed before finally deciding to buy this house.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To procrastinate; to take a long time before doing something or taking a decision."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "procrastinate",
          "procrastinate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(British, idiomatic) To procrastinate; to take a long time before doing something or taking a decision."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌhʌm ənd ˈhɔː/"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "word": "hem and haw"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ],
      "word": "hum and ha"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "word": "um and ah"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Procrastinate indecisively",
      "word": "soutaa ja huovata"
    }
  ],
  "word": "hum and haw"
}

Download raw JSONL data for hum and haw meaning in All languages combined (1.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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