Link Centre Dictionary

paw

UK/pɔː(ɹ)/ US/pɔ/ fairly common slang
noun (2) verb (2)

noun

1.
2.

the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb

  • “he had the hands of a surgeon”
  • “he extended his mitt”
Synonyms

verb

1.

scrape with the paws

  • “The bear pawed the door”
2.

touch clumsily

  • “The man tried to paw her”

Origin

From Middle English pawe, from Old French poue, poe, from Vulgar Latin *pauta. Further origin unknown, perhaps from Frankish *pōta, from Frankish *pōtōn (“to put, stick, plant”), from Proto-Germanic *putōną, whence also Old English potian (“to push”), pȳtan (“to put out, poke out”). See more at put. Doublet of pote, put, and putt. Cognate with Dutch poot, poten (“to plant”), Low German Pote, German Pfote, Icelandic pota (“to stick”).

Phrases

  • bear paw
  • cat's paw
  • chicken paw
  • fox's paw
  • give paw
  • grinch paw
  • kangaroo paw
  • monkey's paw
  • paw at
  • paw off
  • paw up

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

Part of

Entails

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.