paw

English

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”), Albanian putër 'paw'). More at put.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: pô, IPA^(key): /pɔː/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː
• (US) enPR: pô, IPA^(key): /pɔ/
• (cot–caught merger) enPR: pä, IPA^(key): /pɑ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /poː/
• Homophones: poor (non-rhotic with cure-force merger), pore, pour (non-rhotic with horse-hoarse merger), par (non-rhotic with cot-caught and father-bother mergers), pa (with cot-caught and father-bother mergers)
• Hyphenation: paw

Noun

paw (plural paws)

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.

   Synonyms: hand, foot

   Hypernym: extremity

   Holonym: limb

   Meronyms: claw, finger

2. (humorous) A hand.

   Get your grubby paws off my things!

Coordinate terms

• hoof, talon

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

paw (third-person singular simple present paws, present participle pawing, simple past and past participle pawed)

1. (of an animal) To go through something (such as a garbage can) with paws.
2. (of an animal) To gently push on something with a paw.
3. (of an animal) To draw the forefoot along the ground; to beat or scrape with the forefoot.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Job 39:21:

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

4. (by extension) To touch someone in a sexual way.

   Synonym: grope

   • 1997 August 17, Robert Spector, misc.fitness.weights (Usenet):

     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.

   • 1997 October 26, Amy McWilliams, quoting Verbotene, rec.arts.tv.soaps.abc (Usenet):

     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?

   • 2002 July 18, Lurker Dave, rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe (Usenet):

     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?

   • 2018 February, Robert Draper, “They are Watching You—and Everything Else on the Planet: Technology and Our Increasing Demand for Security have Put Us All under Surveillance. Is Privacy Becoming just a Memory?”, in National Geographic‎, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 June 2018:

     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.

   • 2023 October 6, Ryan Gilbey, quoting Illeana Douglas, “The double life of Rock Hudson: ‘Let’s be frank, he was a horndog!’”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     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.

5. (by extension) To clumsily dig through something.
6. (transitive, dated) To flatter.

Translations

See also

• palpate
• paw off

Etymology 2

The word probably has an origin in baby talk: see ‘pa’.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pô, IPA^(key): /pɔː/
• Rhymes: -ɔː

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Homophones: poor (in non-rhotic accents), pore (in non-rhotic accents), pour (in non-rhotic accents)
• Hyphenation: paw (one syllable)

Noun

paw (plural paws)

1. (nonstandard or rustic) Father; pa.

   Synonyms: pawpaw, pa, papa, father, dad, daddy, pappy

   Hypernym: parent

   Hyponym: step-paw

   Coordinate terms: maw, brother, sis, sissy

Derived terms

• pawpaw

Related terms

• pa

Anagrams

• APW, AWP, PWA, WAP, WPA, wap

Jingpho

Etymology

Borrowed from Burmese ဖော့ (hpau.).

Noun

paw

1. cork

References

• Kurabe, Keita (2016 December 31) “Phonology of Burmese loanwords in Jinghpaw”, in Kyoto University Linguistic Research‎, volume 35, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 91–128

Lower Sorbian

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin pavō. Cognates within Slavic include Upper Sorbian paw, Polish paw, Czech páv, Slovene pav, and Russian павли́н (pavlín).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /paw/

Noun

paw (feminine pawa)

1. peacock (pheasant of one of the genera Pavo and Afropavo)

Declension

Further reading

• Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928) “paw”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
• Starosta, Manfred (1999) “paw”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

paw

Wikipedia ^pl

Etymology

Borrowed from Old High German phāwe, from Latin pāvō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /paf/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -af
• Syllabification: paw

Noun

paw m animal (female equivalent pawica)

1. (male) peacock
2. (colloquial) puke; vomit

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• paw in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• paw in Polish dictionaries at PWN