paw
part of speech
noun (a paw, paws); verb (paw, paws, pawed, pawing)
meaning for a pupil
1) A paw is the foot of an animal like a cat, dog, bear or rabbit, usually with claws and soft pads. tree →
2) To paw something means to touch or scratch it with a paw, like a dog pawing at the door. tree →
3) To paw at something can mean a person touches it roughly or too much; «paws» is also a jokey word for hands. tree →
4) Paw can also mean the hoof of a horse, which a horse scrapes at the ground with, often when it is impatient. tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: In the Torah the animals that walk on paws are unclean, so they may not be eaten. Interpretation: The rabbis read this as a sign of a predator, since only animals with split hooves that chew the cud are clean. Touching their carcass makes a person unclean until evening. In the primary lessons: In science, paws help animals walk, run, dig, climb and hold food; pads cushion steps and claws grip. In everyday life with pets: a dog pawing at the door wants to go out; check a pet's paws for thorns, hot pavements or ice. In stories animals «raise a paw». Phrases: «paw prints», «a paw at the door», «get your paws off».
examples
- And whatsoever goeth upon its paws, among all beasts that go on all fours, they are unclean unto you; whoso toucheth their carcass shall be unclean until the even. (Torah LEV.11.27, JPS 1917) tree →
- The cat licked its paw. tree →
- The dog pawed at the door to go out. tree →
- We saw bear paw prints in the snow. tree →
- My puppy gave me his paw. tree →
- Hot pavements in summer can burn a dog's paws. tree →
- The kitten batted the ball with its paw. tree →
- Get your paws off my cake! tree →
- The lion rested its head on its huge paws. tree →
- Outside stood his faithful charger, pawing the ground. tree →
note
Countable: «a paw, paws». Homophones: «pour», «pore» and «poor» sound the same as «paw» for many speakers in the UK, Australia and New Zealand; in the US they usually sound different. Horses and cows have hooves, not paws; birds have feet or claws.
In the corpora
- He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength; he goeth out to meet the clash of arms.
- The soles of a polar bear's paws have fur and small bumps that grip the ice and keep the feet warm.
- A raccoon dipping food in water is feeling it, not washing it; water makes its paws even more sensitive.
- Most cats have 18 toes, five on each front paw and four on each back paw, and cats walk on their toes.
- Your dog is fast asleep on the rug, but its paws are paddling, its lips twitch and it gives tiny muffled woofs.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «paw» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.