[Of obscure origin.
ON. jaga to move to and fro as a door on its hinges, has been compared.]
1. Naut. intr. Of a vessel: To deviate temporarily from the straight course, as through faulty or unsteady steering; to turn to one side or from side to side in her course.
1586. [see YAWING vbl. sb.].
1612. Dekker, If it be not Good, Wks. 1873, III. 293. I spie two Shippes yonder, that yaw too and agen.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), E ee 2. She had yawed to leeward.
1769. St. James’s Chron., 5–8 Aug., 4/2. I … see the Ship yaw as if there was not a Seaman aboard.
1830. Marryat, King’s Own, xiii. The frigate yawed-to with all her sails set.
1885. Runciman, Skippers & Shellbacks, 54. The barque yawed as far as the hawser would allow.
2. transf. and fig. To deviate, go out of course, go or move unsteadily. (Often with direct allusion to sense 1.)
1584. R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., XII. vii. (1886), 183. The daie delaied by length of night which made both daie and night to yawe.
1604. Shaks., Ham. V. ii. 120 (Qo. 2). To deuide him inuentorially, would dosie th’ arithmaticke of memory, and yet but yaw neither in respect of his quick saile.
1834. Marryat, P. Simple, xvi. I shot ahead, and yawed a little—caught a peep at her through her veil.
1896. L. Granville, in Pall Mall Mag., May, 80. The rider yawed in his saddle as a boat, running before the wind, yaws on a cross-sea swell.
3. trans. To cause to yaw (lit. and fig.); to move (something) unsteadily from side to side.
1746. W. Horsley, Fool (1748), I. 201. The Ship of State was, as the Seamen phrase it, yawed to and fro.
1807. E. S. Barrett, Rising Sun, xxxvii. III. 48. Owing to the unskilfulness of her pilots, she was so yawed about, that it was quite uncertain when she would be moored in a safe port.
1827. Hood, Sailor’s Apol. for Bow-legs, 41. [She] yaw’d her head about all sorts of ways.
1845. Gosse, Ocean, iv. (1849), 168. The man at the wheel,… neglecting his helm, ‘yaws’ the ship about sadly.
