v. [Cf. YAW int.] intr. a. To say ‘yaw! yaw!’; to talk affectedly. b. To utter inarticulate cries resembling the syllables ‘yaw, yaw.’ Hence Yawyawdom (nonce-wd.), an affected expression.
1854. Dickens, Hard T., II. ii. They liked fine gentlemen…. They became exhausted in imitation of them; and they yaw-yawed in their speech like them. Ibid. (1862), in R. C. Lehmann, C. D. as Editor (1912), 319. The word ‘shindy,’ or any similar yaw-yawdom.
1885. Hornaday, 2 Yrs. in Jungle, vi. 63. The jackals … broke out into a perfect concert of agonized yelping and yaw-yawing.
