hem and haw

1. 1.

   utter `hems' and `haws'; indicated hesitation

   “He hemmed and hawed when asked to address the crowd”

   Broaderhesitate

Questions about hem and haw

What does hem and haw mean?

hem and haw means "utter `hems' and `haws'; indicated hesitation".

Is hem and haw a common word?

hem and haw is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.