Gawn

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. A Scottish dialect form of the verb go, used for going or for having gone away
2. In Scots and northern English speech, a dialect variant meaning going or gone
3. A regional Scots form of the verb to go, appearing in the sense of moving off or departing

Etymology: "Gawn" is a dialect form of "gallon," the unit of liquid measure, and its history is a matter of sound and spelling rather than of meaning. The word came into English from Old French "galon," and the familiar "gallon" spelling reflects that French ancestry, which is why the vowel in the first syllable sounds the way it does in many standard speakers' mouths. In some English dialects, speakers dropped the final consonant of "gallon" and softened the vowel, producing "gawn." The result is a spoken variant rather than a separate word with its own sense: a "gawn" is the same measure of volume, used in a regional or informal register.