haver
Syllables: ha·ver/ˈheɪvə/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Scotland/ˈheːvəɹ/
haver verb: to hem and haw. Also the alternative form of chaver.
Verb
haver (third-person singular simple present havers, present participle havering, simple past and past participle havered)
- To hem and haw.
- This didn't seem at all unlikely, but when I none the less havered, he insisted that his 'Egyptian fortune-teller' had confirmed it.1988, Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming-Pool Library, paperback edition, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 154
- To talk foolishly; to chatter.
- To business, and no more havers.1897, Stanley John Weyman, chapter XIV, in Shrewsbury
- And if I haver,
Yeah I know I’m gonna be,
I’m gonna be the man
Who’s haverin' to you.1988, The Proclaimers, I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
Noun (1)
haver (plural havers)
- The cereal grain of cultivated oats (Avena sativa).
- From porridge, the liquid preparation of oats, we are led almost automatically to the haver-cake, which was a great improvement on the former, for it could be carried about, and kept for an indefinite time in sound and wholesome condition.1902, Charles Roeder, “Notes on food and drink in Lancashire and other Northern Counties”, in Transactions of Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, page 44
- The plant or the grain of common wild oats (Avena fatua).
Noun (2)
US/ˈhævɚ/UK/ˈhævə/
haver (plural havers)
- One who has something (in various senses).
- It is held / That valour is the chiefest virtue, and / Most dignifies the haver: if it be, / The man I speak of cannot in the world / Be singly counterpoised.c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Because abortion would no longer be an issue (except, again, in the case of criminal sex-havers), Democrats and republicans would stop fighting […]2012, Robert Kurzban, Why Everyone (Else) is a Hypocrite, page 186
- The person who has custody of a document.
Proper noun capitalized: Haver
Haver (plural Havers)
- A surname.
Also used as
haver is also the alternative form of chaver.
Examples of haver in a sentence
- She havers on about her "faither" and "mirra" and the "wee wean," her child, and "hoo i wiz glaiket but bonny forby."2004, James Campbell, “Boswell and Mrs. Miller”, in Wendy Lesser, editor, The Genius of Language, page 194:
- Yet, DiAngelo writes, white people cling to the notion of racial innocence, a form of weaponized denial that positions black people as the "havers" of race and the guardians of racial knowledge.2018 July 23, Katy Waldman, “A Sociologist Examines the "White Fragility" That Prevents White Americans from Confronting Racism”, in New...
Synonyms of haver
Forms of haver
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | havers |
| present participle | havering |
| past participle | havered |
| past | havered |
| Noun | |
| plural | havers |
| plural | haverim |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Havers |
Origin of haver
Borrowed from Scots haiver.
Inherited from Middle English haver, havere, from Old Norse hafri (“oat, oats”), from Proto-Germanic *habrô (“oat, oats”), from Proto-Indo-European *kapro- (“goat”); reinforced by Scots haver in Scotland. Cognate with Dutch haver (“oats”) and German Hafer (“oat”).
From Middle English haver, havere, equivalent to have + -er.
Words formed from haver
Phrases with haver
Words that rhyme with haver
5 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about haver
- What does haver mean?
- Haver means to hem and haw.
- How do you use haver in a sentence?
- She havers on about her "faither" and "mirra" and the "wee wean," her child, and "hoo i wiz glaiket but bonny forby."
- What part of speech is haver?
- Haver can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce haver?
- Haver is pronounced /ˈheɪvə/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of haver?
- The past tense of haver is havered.
Words near haver in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: haver (page history and authors); Haver (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-haver2.wav.
Cite this entry: “haver.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/haver. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.