[‘ /intr./ Chiefly Sc. and Eng. regional (north.). To talk foolishly or inconsequentially; to talk nonsense; to blather, ramble; to chatter, gossip. Freq. with on, about.']
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈheɪvə/, U.S. /ˈheɪvər/, Sc. /ˈhevər/
Forms: 17 *havrin’** present participle, 17– *haver**, 18 *haever*, 18 *hyver* /Shetland/, 18– *haiver*.
Etymology:Origin uncertain; perhaps imitative. Compare earlier claver v.2 and also Scots /habber/ to stammer, to talk incessantly and repetitively (1808).
In sense 2 perhaps influenced by waver v.
Compare earlier havering adj. and haverel n.
*1.* /intr./ Chiefly Sc. and Eng. regional (north.). To talk foolishly or inconsequentially; to talk nonsense; to blather, ramble; to chatter, gossip. Freq. with on, about.
1776 /Weekly Mag./ 25 Jan. 145 Troth, Branky, man, I hinna faul’t my een Since here I left you havrin’ late the streen.
1816 Scott /Antiquary/ III. xv. 332 He just havered on about it to make the mair o’ Sir Arthur.
1825 J. T. Brockett /Gloss. North Country Words/, /Haver, Haiver/, to talk foolishly, to speak without thought.
1826 J. Galt /Last of Lairds/ xxi. 188 But I have nae time the night to haever wi’ you.
1881 G. T. Chesney /Private Secret./ II. xix. 148 Hilda shuddered as her father havered on.
1907 N. Munro /Bud/ xxvii. 259 ‘The sweetest in the world!’ cried Auntie Bell. ‘I wonder to hear you haivering.’
1943 /Scots Mag./ May 129 Yin o’ Scotland’s great race o’ engineers that the writers write aboot an’ the orators haver aboot.
1988 C. Reid & C. Reid /I’m gonna be (500 Miles)/(song) in Proclaimers /Sunshine on Leith/(record sleeve-notes), And if I haver, yeah I know I’m gonna be I’m gonna be the man who’s havering to you.
2009 I. Welsh /Reheated Cabbage/ 260 Lawson eyed and pawed at her in lewd obscenity as he havered on. It was as well she probably couldn’t understand a word he was saying.
*2.* /intr./ Chiefly Brit. (orig. Sc.). To behave indecisively or hesitantly; to vacillate between opinions or courses of action; to waver, dither.
1866 W. Gregor /Dial. Banffshire/(Philol. Soc.) 73 Ye needna be haiverin’ that wye aboot gain’ haim..wee the lassie. A ken ye like ‘ir.
1919 M. Diver /Strong Hours/ iii. 83 You’ve been havering long enough; and I gather that my proposal—broadly speaking—is not distasteful to you?
1955 J. Bayley /In Another Country/ 75 It was a classic moment for polite havering, but the sensible girl did not haver: he was holding the front door open and she climbed in without more ado.
2013 /Express/(Nexis) 1 Mar. 15 Over 20 years successive governments havered and dithered over nuclear reactor replacement.