Dictionary

wau-wau en · NOUN

Etymology

From Chinook Jargon wawa.

Meanings

1. (countable, dated, uncountable) A talk; talking; a meeting or conversation.
   • "Blackfoot--one hundred and twenty miles; go slow--Mowitza tired; long wau-wau (talk); come slow--snows high; come soon now, may be." And that was really the only information in the entire "wau-wau" that was of interest to the camp 1891, Marah Ellis Ryan, Told in the Hills^(https://web.archive.org/web/20260721232504/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Told_in_the_hills_(IA_toldinhills00ryan_0).pdf), Rand, McNally & Company, archived from the original on 21 Jul 2026:
   • After uh lot uh general wau-wau Miss Selva gits up on th' fiddler's platform and looks us over. 1916, W.C. Tuttle, “For the Love of Annibel”, in Adventure, volumes 13, Issues 1-3, page 77:
   • Me and Dirty don't say a word, being as we don't sabe his wau-wau. 1922 April 30, W.C. Tuttle, Too Much Progress for Piperock, page 324:

Forms