paw
Plural: paws
Noun
- a clawed foot of an animal especially a quadruped
- the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb
- The soft foot of a mammal or other animal, generally a quadruped, that has claws or nails; comparable to a human hand or foot.
- A hand.
- Father; pa.
Verb
Verb Forms: pawed, pawing, paws
- To strike or scrape with a beating motion, as an animal does.
- scrape with the paws
- "The bear pawed the door"
- touch clumsily
- "The man tried to paw her"
- Of an animal, to touch (something) with a paw.
- Of an animal, to dig through (something, such as a garbage can) with paws.
- Of an animal, to draw the forefoot along the ground; to beat or scrape with the forefoot.
- To touch (someone) in a sexual way.
- To clumsily dig (through something).
- To flatter.
Examples
- Get your grubby paws off my things!
- He began to PAW at the tiles in the bag, hoping for better luck in Scrabble.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English pawe, from Old French poue, poe, from Frankish *pōta (compare Dutch poot, Low German Pote, German Pfote), from Frankish *pōtōn (“to put, stick, plant”) (compare Dutch poten (“to plant”)), from Proto-Germanic *putōną (compare Old English potian (“to push”), pȳtan (“to put out, poke out”), Icelandic pota (“to stick”)). See more at put.
Synonyms
hand, manus, mitt, Father, Pappy, ayr, ba, baba, da, dad, dada, daddio, daddy, father, fatherling, feel up, fiddle, fondle, foot, fumble, go through, grope, old man, pa, palpate, pap, papa, papaw, pappaw, pappy, pater, patriarch, paw, pawpaw, peepaw, pepaw, pop, poppa, poppy, pops, rummage, sire, touch up
Scrabble Score: 8
paw: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordpaw: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
paw: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary