Naut. Also 7 yawe, yogh. [Related to YAW v.1] An act of yawing; a movement of deviation from the direct course, as from bad steering.
1546. Gardiner, Declar. Joye, 91. Lyke a shyppe without anker holde or rother, ye wander as the variable wynde tosseth you, and so make yawes in and oute, without any right course.
1565[?]. Sir J. Hawkins, 2nd Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.), 9. To make three yawes, and strike the Myson three times.
1667. (Nov. 5), Admiralty Crt. Exam., 77. Made a yogh.
1697. Lond. Gaz., No. 3315/1. I crouded Sail to Leeward to him,… making a little Yaw sometimes to shew my French Ensign.
1725. H. de Saumarez, in Phil. Trans., XXXIII. 425. It cannot be expected but that a Ship before the Wind will deviate from her true Course, sometimes one Way, sometimes another, in her Yaws and Sheers.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 254, note. The boat took a sudden yaw or sheer, which canted me overboard.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxxiii. Another wide yaw and a come-to snapped the guys.
1875. Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket Bk., iii. (ed. 2), 59. If under steam, a slight yaw with the helm will serve to show the direction you intend to take.
b. transf. and fig.: cf. YAW v.1 2.
1597. J. Payne, Royal Exch., 34. Now and then we make yawes agaynste our wills.
1634. Massinger, Very Woman, III. v. ’Tis strong, strong Wine: O the yaws that she’ll make!
1870. Reade, Put yourself in his Place, III. 163. Putting her left hand to his breast, she gave a great yaw, and then a forward rush with her mighty loins.
1885. Stevenson, Prince Otto, I. iv. He gave a beery yaw in the saddle.
c. Comb. yaw-sighted a. (Naut. slang), cross-eyed, squinting.
1751. Smollett, Per. Pickle (1779), I. vi. 45. A yaw-sighted bitch.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.
