Danish

Proper noun

Paw

1. A male given name.

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: pô, IPA^(key): /pɔː/
• Rhymes: -ɔː
• (US) enPR: pô, IPA^(key): /pɔ/
• (cot–caught merger) enPR: pä, IPA^(key): /pɑ/
• Homophones: poor (in non-rhotic accents), pore (in non-rhotic accents), pour (in non-rhotic accents), pa (with caught-cot merger)
• Hyphenation: paw (one syllable)

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.
2. (humorous) A hand.

   Get your grubby paws off my things!

Synonyms

• (of a mammal:) hand, foot

Hypernyms

• (foot of a mammal:) limb extremity

Meronyms

• claw, finger

Holonyms

• limb

Coordinate terms

• hoof, talon

Derived terms

• paw (verb)
• pawprint(s)
• catpaw

Related terms

• possibly German Pfote
• cat's paw

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.
   • Bible, Job xxxix. 21

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

4. (by extension, of a human) To touch someone (with the hands) in a sexual way.
   • August 17 1997, Robert Spector, in misc.fitness.weights:

     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.

   • October 26 1997, Verbotene, quoted by Amy McWilliams, in rec.arts.tv.soaps.abc:

     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?

   • July 18 2002, Lurker Dave, in rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe:

     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?

5. (by extension, of a human) To clumsily dig through something.

Translations

Hypernyms

• (to go through something with paws): handle
• (to gently push on something): touch

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
• 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 rural) Father; pa.

Synonyms

• (father:) pawpaw, pa, papa, father, dad, daddy, pappy

Hypernyms

• (father:) parent

Hyponyms

• (father:) step-paw

Coordinate terms

• maw, brother, sis/sissy

Derived terms

• pawpaw

Related terms

• pa

Anagrams

• PWA, WAP, WPA

Lower Sorbian

paw

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *pavъ ‎(“peacock”), a borrowing 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 equivalent pawa)

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

Declension

Polish

paw

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /paf/

Noun

paw m anim

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

Declension

Derived terms

• dumny jak paw
• puścić pawia
• puszyć się jak paw