hums and hahs

Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.

A familiar expression applied to one who hesitates in speaking. 'None of your hums and hahs!' that is, be decisive, do not hesitate. The expression is common in England.


With dimpling cheek, and snowy band,

That shames the whiteness of his hand,

Whose mincing dialect abounds

With hums and hahs, and half form'd sounds.--Lloyd, Epistle.

I know'd well enough that warn't what he sent for me for, by the way he humm'd and hawed when he began.--Sam Slick in England, ch. 20.

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