Yaw

//jɔː// name, noun, verb

name, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 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. 2
    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; […]"

  3. 3
    an erratic deflection from an intended course wordnet
  4. 4
    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.
  5. 5
    A vessel's motion rotating about the vertical axis, so the bow yaws from side to side; a characteristic of unsteadiness.
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  1. 6
    The extent of yawing; the rotation angle about the vertical axis.

    "the yaw of an aircraft"

Verb
  1. 1
    To turn about the vertical axis while maintaining course. intransitive
  2. 2
    swerve off course momentarily wordnet
  3. 3
    To swerve off course to port or starboard. intransitive
  4. 4
    deviate erratically from a set course wordnet
  5. 5
    To steer badly, zigzagging back and forth across the intended course of a boat; to go out of the line of course. intransitive

    "Just as he would lay the ship's course, all yawing being out of the question."

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  1. 6
    be wide open wordnet
  2. 7
    To rise in blisters, breaking in white froth, as cane juice in the clarifiers in sugar works. intransitive
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
gapeaberrancyaberrationabout shipaxisback and fill

Example

More examples

"In helicopters, yaw is controlled through the pedals, which alter the angle of attack of the tail rotor blades."

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”).

Related phrases

adverse yawyaw damper

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.