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Paw

//pɔː// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The soft foot of a mammal or other animal, generally a quadruped, that has claws or nails; comparable to a human hand or foot.
  2. 2
    Father; pa.
  3. 3
    Abbreviation of plasma arc welding (an arc welding technology). abbreviation, alt-of, uncountable
  4. 4
    a clawed foot of an animal especially a quadruped wordnet
  5. 5
    A hand. humorous

    "Get your grubby paws off my things!"

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  1. 6
    Abbreviation of plasma arc weld (a weld created with the PAW process). abbreviation, alt-of, countable
  2. 7
    the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    Of an animal, to touch (something) with a paw. transitive
  2. 2
    touch clumsily wordnet
  3. 3
    Of an animal, to dig through (something, such as a garbage can) with paws. transitive
  4. 4
    scrape with the paws wordnet
  5. 5
    Of an animal, to draw the forefoot along the ground; to beat or scrape with the forefoot. transitive

    "He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men."

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  1. 6
    To touch (someone) in a sexual way. broadly, transitive

    "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."

  2. 7
    To clumsily dig (through something). broadly, transitive
  3. 8
    To flatter. dated, transitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

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.

Etymology 3

The word probably has an origin in baby talk. See pa.

See also for "paw"

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