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yaw

noun, verb — 9 senses

yaw

noun

/jɔː/ · /jɑː/

Etymology Unknown, first attested in the mid-16th century. Perhaps related to yar (“quick, agile”), or alternatively from Old Norse jaga (“to chase, drive, move back and forth”), from Middle Low German jagen (“to hunt, chase, pursue”), from Old Saxon *jagōn, from Proto-West Germanic *jagōn, from Proto-Germanic *jakkōną (“to hunt”).

1

The rotation of an aircraft, ship, or missile about its vertical axis so as to cause the longitudinal axis of the aircraft, ship, or missile to deviate from the flight line or heading in its horizontal plane.

2

The angle between the longitudinal axis of a projectile at any moment and the tangent to the trajectory in the corresponding point of flight of the projectile.

3

Nautical, Transport A vessel's motion rotating about the vertical axis, so the bow yaws from side to side; a characteristic of unsteadiness.

4

The extent of yawing; the rotation angle about the vertical axis.

  • the yaw of an aircraft
Derived terms
adverse yaw, yaw damper

yaw

verb

Etymology Unknown, first attested in the mid-16th century. Perhaps related to yar (“quick, agile”), or alternatively from Old Norse jaga (“to chase, drive, move back and forth”), from Middle Low German jagen (“to hunt, chase, pursue”), from Old Saxon *jagōn, from Proto-West Germanic *jagōn, from Proto-Germanic *jakkōną (“to hunt”).

1

Aeronautics, Aerospace, Aviation, Business, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences To turn about the vertical axis while maintaining course.

2

Nautical, Transport To swerve off course to port or starboard.

3

Nautical, Transport To steer badly, zigzagging back and forth across the intended course of a boat; to go out of the line of course.

  • Just as he would lay the ship's course, all yawing being out of the question.1853–1864, James Russell Lowell, “(please specify the page)”, in Fireside Travels, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1864, →OCLC:
4

To rise in blisters, breaking in white froth, as cane juice in the clarifiers in sugar works.

Related terms
heading, pitch, roll, surge, scend

yaw

noun
1

A single tumor in the disease called yaws.

  • Sometimes there remains one large Yaw, high and knobbed, red and moist; this is called the master Yaw; […]1770, William Northcote, The Marine Practice of Physic and Surgery, page 408:
Related terms
yaw-haw, yaw-weed

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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