claw

Meanings

Noun

• A curved, pointed horny nail on each digit of the foot of a mammal, reptile, or bird.
• A foot equipped with such.
• The pincer (chela) of a crustacean or other arthropod.
• A mechanical device resembling a claw, used for gripping or lifting.
• A slender appendage or process, formed like a claw, such as the base of petals of the pink.
• The act of catching a ball overhand.

Verb

• To scratch or to tear at.
• To use the claws to seize, to grip.
• To use the claws to climb.
• To perform a claw catch.
• To move with one's fingertips.
• To relieve uneasy feeling, such as an itch, by scratching; hence, to humor or flatter, to court someone.
• To rail at; to scold.
• To flatter; to fawn on (a person).

Origin

• From Middle English clawe, from Old English clawu, from Proto-Germanic *klawō. Compare West Frisian klau, Dutch klauw, German Klaue, Danish klo, Norwegian klo, and Swedish klo.
• From Middle English clawen, from Old English clawan, clāwan, *clēn, clawian, from Proto-Germanic *klawjaną.