释义 |
hem and haw verb to stutter, to hesitate while beginning a sentence UK, 1786- Finally, after a convincing game of hem and haw and my almost tearful pleas for him to reveal his secret desires ... he would blurt out that he would give her one hundred dollars and die happy if he could see her fabulous body unadorned. — Iceberg Slim (Robert Beck), The Naked Soul of Iceberg Slim, p. 65, 1971
- [Diary entry 11th March 1996] Listening to him hemming and hawing (oh so reasonably) it’s clear as crystal we’re going to have weeks of debilitating shilly-shallying[.] — Gyles Brandreth, Breaking the Code, p. 388, 1999
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