“paws” is a form of
paw
UK /pɔː(ɹ)/ · US /pɔ/ noun, verb
Forms paws pawing pawed
- noun The soft foot of a mammal or other animal, generally a quadruped, that has claws or nails; comparable to a human hand or foot.
- noun (humorous, also furry fandom) A hand. “Get your grubby paws off my things!”
- verb (transitive) Of an animal, to dig through (something, such as a garbage can) with paws.
- verb (transitive) Of an animal, to draw the forefoot along the ground; to beat or scrape with the forefoot.
- verb (transitive, by extension) To touch (someone) in a sexual way.
- verb (transitive, by extension) To clumsily dig (through something).
- verb (transitive, dated) To flatter.
Synonyms
hand foot feel up fiddle fondle grope palpate touch up fumble go through rummage ayr ba baba da dad dada daddio daddy father manus mitt
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”).
The word probably has an origin in baby talk. See pa.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The foot of a quadruped having claws, as the lion, dog, cat, etc.
- noun The hand. [Jocose] Dryden. Paw clam (Zoöl.), the tridacna; --so called because shaped like an animal's paw.
- verb To draw the forefoot along the ground; to beat or scrape with the forefoot. Job xxxix. 21.
- verb To pass the paw over; to stroke or handle with the paws; hence, to handle fondly or rudely.
Etymology [OE. pawe, poue, OF. poe: cf. patte, LG. pote, D. poot, G. pfote.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “paw”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details