mee-maw

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Etymology 1

Variant of meemaw (“grandmother”).

Noun

mee-maw (plural mee-maws)

1. (informal) Alternative form of meemaw, i.e. mamaw (grandmother).
   • 2012, Elizabeth Lynn Casey, Let It Sew, →ISBN:

     Well, sometimes mee-maws have things to do, like moms and little girls.

Etymology 2

See meemaw (“to mouth”).

Verb

English Wikipedia has an article on:

mee-mawing

Wikipedia

mee-maw (third-person singular simple present mee-maws, present participle mee-mawing, simple past and past participle mee-mawed)

1. To make exaggerated movements with the mouth so as to be understood above a loud noise, such as that of machinery.
   • 2009, Stanley Graham, Brown and Pickles, →ISBN, page 290:

     So we walked round and mee-mawed at one another. (Mee-mawing is mouthing words at each other without making a sound using exaggerated lip movements. This is the name the weavers, who use this technique all the time, give to it.)

   • 2011, Ernest Dewhurst, A Pennine Childhood, →ISBN:

     On working days weavers who had jobs were already mee-mawing across the racket of looms as the van delivered and in hot weather, with weaving shed doors open, the sound bombarded the streets.

   • 2013, Lisa Riley, Never Judge a Book by its Cover: The Autobiography, →ISBN:

     If you're familiar with Les Dawson's infamous creation Ada Shufflebotham, one of the Northern housewives in the 'Cissie and Ada sketches, you'll have an idea who Gran was. Just like Ada, she pursed her lips and silently mouthed the unmentionable things in life, rather than saying them out loud. This was known as 'mee-mawing' and it originiated among the mill workers of Lancashier, because they couldn't be heard above the deafening noise of the looms, even when they shouted. After a while, mee-mawing became a part of daily life, especially when it came to discussing embarrassing or saucy topics. Basically, you mee-mawed anything you didn't want people to overhear, even when there was no one around to listen in.

   • 2013, Nick Oldham, Critical Threat, →ISBN:

     Bill, who had nudged the other customer out of the shop and locked the door, mee-mawed at him to wait.

2. To make a two-syllable wailing noise.
   • 1872, Locke's National Monthly - Volumes 1-2, page 309:

     It is nasal, screeching, yowling, mee-mawing, wailing—every sound excruciating to ears refined.

   • 2010, Paul Magrs, Hell's Belles, →ISBN:

     They could hear the ambulance now, mee-mawing busily outside on the prom.

   • 2015, Ralph Storer, 50 Shades of Hillwalking, →ISBN:

     On the Friday I was mee-mawed to hospital with chest pains and, one hour and one angioplasty later, I had two stents in my chest to unblock an artery.

Noun

mee-maw (plural mee-maws)

1. An exaggerated mouthing of a word.
2. A meaningless utterance.
   • 1864, John Henry Gordon, Old Archie , the Blacking Man: a pastoral tribute.:

     Oh,” said Archie, “many folk would pay half-a-crown to see their mee-maws;” and this saying was overheard by a Papist standing by, who, in reporting the remark, was pleased to observe that she had always considered Archibald Wilson a Christian, and had respected him as such, until she heard him describe the ceremonies of her church as "mee-maws!"

   • 1896, Owen Rhoscomyl, For the White Rose of Arno, page 28:

     Hang you, sir," retorted Pengraig, " you make me mad with your mee-maws and your prickings of him.

3. A two-syllable wail.
   • 2016, Barrie Doyle, The Lucifer Scroll, →ISBN:

     As the siren screamed it added to the mee-maws, sirens and cacophony of emergency vehicles rushing to the Hyde Park disaster site.

4. (Scotland, slang) A policeman.