This didn't seem at all unlikely, but when I none the less havered, he insisted that his 'Egyptian fortune-teller' had confirmed it. 1988, Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming-Pool Library, paperback edition, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 154:
(Scotland) To talk foolishly; to chatter.
She havers on about her "faither" and "mirra" and the "wee wean," her child, and "hoo i wiz glaiket but bonny forby." 2004, James Campbell, “Boswell and Mrs. Miller”, in Wendy Lesser, editor, The Genius of Language, page 194:
To business, and no more havers. 1897, Stanley John Weyman, chapter XIV, in Shrewsbury:
And if I haver,
Yeah I know I’m gonna be,
I’m gonna be the man
Who’s haverin' to you. 1988, The Proclaimers, I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles):
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *káprosder.
Proto-Germanic *habrô
Old Norse hafribor.
Middle English havere
English haver
Inherited from Middle English haver, havere, from Old Norse hafri (“oat, oats”), from Proto-Germanic *habrô (“oat, oats”), from Proto-Indo-European *kapro- (“goat”); reinforced by Scots haver in Scotland. Cognate with Dutch haver (“oats”) and German Hafer (“oat”).
Meanings
(Northern-England, Scotland, UK) The cereal grain of cultivated oats (Avena sativa).
From porridge, the liquid preparation of oats, we are led almost automatically to the haver-cake, which was a great improvement on the former, for it could be carried about, and kept for an indefinite time in sound and wholesome condition. 1902, Charles Roeder, “Notes on food and drink in Lancashire and other Northern Counties”, in Transactions of Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, page 44:
(Northern-England, Scotland, UK, archaic) The plant or the grain of common wild oats (Avena fatua).
Etymology tree
substratebor.?
Proto-Indo-European *kap-der.
Proto-Germanic *habjaną
Proto-West Germanic *habbjan
Old English habban
Middle English haven
Proto-Indo-European *-yósder.
Proto-Italic *-āzios
Latin -āriusnom.
Latin -āriusbor.
Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz
Proto-West Germanic *-ārī
Old English -ere
Middle English -ere
Middle English havere
English haver
From Middle English haver, havere, equivalent to have + -er.
Meanings
One who has something (in various senses).
It is held / That valour is the chiefest virtue, and / Most dignifies the haver: if it be, / The man I speak of cannot in the world / Be singly counterpoised. c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
Because abortion would no longer be an issue (except, again, in the case of criminal sex-havers), Democrats and republicans would stop fighting […] 2012, Robert Kurzban, Why Everyone (Else) is a Hypocrite, page 186:
As a haver of eczema and chronically parched skin, I know I can always return to this nourishing formula that uses soothing colloidal oatmeal and allantoin as well as shea butter which works to protect the skin barrier. 2022 December 2, Tessa Flores, “What Our Shopping Editors Are Buying From Sephora's Holiday Sale”, in Huffington Post:
Yet, DiAngelo writes, white people cling to the notion of racial innocence, a form of weaponized denial that positions black people as the "havers" of race and the guardians of racial knowledge. 2018 July 23, Katy Waldman, “A Sociologist Examines the "White Fragility" That Prevents White Americans from Confronting Racism”, in New Yorker:
(Scotland) The person who has custody of a document.