From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhem and hawhem and hawAmerican EnglishPAUSE to keep pausing before saying something, and avoid saying it directly SYN hum and haw British English → hem
Examples from the Corpus
hem and haw• They hemmed and hawed and fiddled with the data, and called for more aid and more research.• Floyd hemmed and hawed when he was asked to introduce himself. 