mee-maw

mee-maw is the alternative form of meemaw.

Noun (1)

mee-maw (plural mee-maws)

An exaggerated mouthing of a word.
A meaningless utterance.
- 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...1864, John Henry Gordon, Old Archie [Wilson], the Blacking Man: a pastoral tribute.
- Hang you, sir," retorted Pengraig, " you make me mad with your mee-maws and your prickings of him.1896, Owen Rhoscomyl, For the White Rose of Arno, page 28
(Scotland, slang) A policeman.

meemaw (plural meemaws)

(Southern US, US, dialectal) Synonym of mamaw (“grandmother”).
- “Let's celebrate with drinks at Tipsy River.” “Uh, I don't want to go to Tipsy River. I don't want to bother my meemaw while she's working.” “Let's not push it. He's embarrassed of his country-ass grandma.” “Don't be embarrassed of your meemaw, Wayne. She's fun.”2021 April 18, Christy Stratton & Erin Wagoner, “Hoot 'N Haw” (3:29 from the start), in Bless the Harts, season 2, episode 18, spoken by Wayne Edwards (Ike Barinholtz)
Synonyms:

mamaw

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

To silently make exaggerated movements with the mouth so as to be understood in environment with loud noise, such as that of machinery.
- 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.)2009, Stanley Graham, Brown and Pickles, →ISBN, page 290
- 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.2011, Ernest Dewhurst, A Pennine Childhood, →ISBN

mee-maw (plural mee-maws)

The two-tone wailing of a siren.
- As the siren screamed it added to the mee-maws, sirens and cacophony of emergency vehicles rushing to the Hyde Park disaster site.2016, Barrie Doyle, The Lucifer Scroll, →ISBN

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

To make the two-syllable wailing noise of a siren.
- It is nasal, screeching, yowling, mee-mawing, wailing—every sound excruciating to ears refined.1872, Locke's National Monthly - Volumes 1-2, page 309
- They could hear the ambulance now, mee-mawing busily outside on the prom.2010, Paul Magrs, Hell's Belles, →ISBN

Noun
plural	mee-maws
Verb
third-person singular present	mee-maws
present participle	mee-mawing
past participle	mee-mawed
past	mee-mawed

Variant of meemaw (“grandmother”).

See meemaw (“to mouth”).

What does mee-maw mean?: Mee-maw means to silently make exaggerated movements with the mouth so as to be understood in environment with loud noise, such as that of machinery.
What is mee-maw the alternative form of?: Mee-maw is the alternative form of meemaw.
What part of speech is mee-maw?: Mee-maw can be a verb or a noun.
What is the past tense of mee-maw?: The past tense of mee-maw is mee-mawed.

Adapted from Wiktionary: mee-maw (page history and authors); meemaw (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-mee-maw.ogg.

Cite this entry: “mee-maw.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mee-maw. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.