Word of the Day

: January 28, 2007

yaw

verb YAW

What It Means

1 : to deviate erratically from a course (as when struck by a heavy sea); especially : to move from side to side b of an airplane, spacecraft, or projectile : to turn by angular motion about the vertical axis

2 : alternate

yaw in Context

The gigantic wave caused our boat to yaw sharply to port, but thanks to some clever steering by Dad, we were able to get safely back on course.

Did You Know?

In the heyday of large sailing ships, numerous nautical words appeared on the horizon, many of which have origins that have never been traced. "Yaw" is one such word. It began showing up in print in the 16th century, first as a noun (meaning "movement off course" or "side to side movement") and then as a verb. For more than 350 years it remained a sailing word, with occasional side trips to the figurative sense "to alternate." Then dawned the era of airplane flight in the early 20th century, and "yawing" was no longer confined to the sea. Nowadays, people who love boats still use "yaw" much as did the sailing-men of old, but pilots and rocket scientists also refer to the "yawing" of their crafts.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.