claw

«claw» in Mova's school dictionary: a sharp curved nail on the foot of an animal or bird… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a claw, claws); verb (claw, claws, clawed, clawing)

meaning for a pupil

1) A claw is a sharp curved nail on the foot of an animal or bird, like a cat's, eagle's or bear's. tree →

2) A claw is the pincer of a crab, lobster or scorpion, used to grab things. tree →

3) To claw is to scratch, tear or grab with claws or fingernails. tree →

4) To claw your way is to move or get something with great effort. tree →

5) A claw can also mean a hand, especially a hooked one. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons, claws are adaptations for hunting, climbing, digging and defending. Cats can pull their claws in (retract); dogs cannot. In everyday life, the claw machine at fairs is a game. A claw hammer has a split end for pulling out nails. Phrases: «sharp claws», «claw at», «claw back» (get back with effort), «claw machine».

examples

• The cat scratched the sofa with its claws. tree →
• The eagle grabbed the fish with its claws. tree →
• Crabs pinch with their big claws. tree →
• Bears use their claws to dig and climb. tree →
• The puppy clawed at the door to get in. tree →
• I tried to win a toy from the claw machine. tree →
• Cats can hide their claws inside their paws. tree →
• The climbers clawed their way up the steep slope. tree →
• “Shake hands, Starkey,” said Hook, proffering his claw. tree →

note

Countable. A bird of prey's claws are also called talons. Do not confuse with «clause» (part of a sentence), which sounds similar. Safety: don't play rough with cats or dogs — claws can scratch and scratches can get infected.

In the corpora

• An echidna has no teeth and catches ants and termites with a long sticky tongue after breaking into their nests with strong claws.
• A two-toed sloth has two claws on each front foot and three on each back foot.
• Giant anteaters walk on their knuckles to protect long front claws, which rip open hard termite mounds and can fight off a jaguar.
• Long curved claws hook over branches, so a sloth can hang upside down for hours, even asleep, without tiring.
• Ringed seals dig snow caves on the ice to hide their pups and keep breathing holes open by scratching the ice with strong claws.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «claw» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.