paw
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: lifestyle
Etymology: 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”).
Inflected forms:
form: paws
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: paws
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: pawing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: pawed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: pawed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: The soft foot of a mammal or other animal, generally a quadruped, that has claws or nails; comparable to a human hand or foot.
pos: noun
gloss: A hand.
pos: noun
tags: also
humorous
slang
examples: Get your grubby paws off my things!
Mrs. Hauksbee laid her hand lightly upon the ungloved paw that rested on the turned-backed ’rickshaw hood, and, looking the man full in the face, said tenderly, almost too tenderly, “I believe in you if you mistrust yourself.”
Abel smiled broadly and proffered his hamlike paw to the chief […]
gloss: Of an animal, to touch (something) with a paw.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: Of an animal, to touch (something) with a paw.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men.
gloss: To touch (someone) in a sexual way.
pos: verb
tags: broadly
transitive
examples: IronMan used to be good in this way, back in the '80s. […] They wouldn't subscribe to the old, "Let's put a male bodybuilder with silicone babes pawing him" cover that's mainstay now.
So, Katherine was out with Luke and they were both quite dolled up and swoon-worthy. Katherine fawned all over Luke and pawed him, but to what end? Was Stefan supposed to believe that Luke and Katherine have some sort of a thing going? What was the point of this display from Katherine's perspective?
Subtlety is great, but what exactly happened with Jessica and the cop during sex that he locked her up afterwards? Also, what was the item she nicked from his shirt while she pawed him?
Tonight there are no drug deals, no fights, only the random foolishness of the young and inebriated. They stagger with linked arms down the middle of the street. They paw at each other.
He was good-looking, masculine, funny, charismatic and he could dance the cha-cha-cha. And he’s never a brute. He’s flirting with women but he’s not pawing them.
gloss: To clumsily dig (through something).
pos: verb
tags: broadly
transitive
gloss: To flatter.
pos: verb
tags: dated
transitive
Derived words: bear paw
bear's-paw
Bearspaw
catpaw
cat's paw
chicken paw
facepaw
footpaw
forepaw
fox's paw
give paw
grandpaw
grinch paw
kangaroo paw
monkey's paw
northpaw
on the other paw
paddy paw
pawdicure
pawer
pawful
pawgun
pawjob
pawless
pawlice
pawlike
pawmark
pawpad
pawprint
pawrent
pawshake
pawsies
pawsitive
pawsome
pawstep
pawternity leave
pawtism
pawty
peet
southpaw
tiger paw
paw at
paw off
paw up
Translations: