paw

Meanings

Noun

• The soft foot of a mammal or other animal, generally a quadruped, that has claws or nails; comparable to a human hand or foot.
• A hand.
• Father; pa.

Verb

• To go through something (such as a garbage can) with paws.
• To gently push on something with a paw.
• To draw the forefoot along the ground; to beat or scrape with the forefoot.
• To touch someone in a sexual way.
• To clumsily dig through something.
• To flatter.

Origin

• From Middle English pawe, from Old French poue, poe, from Frankish *pōta (compare Dutch poot, Low German Pote, German Pfote), from Frankish *pōtōn (compare Dutch poten 'to plant'), from Proto-Germanic *putōną (compare Old English potian, pȳtan, Icelandic pota, Albanian putër 'paw'). More at put.
• The word probably has an origin in baby talk: see ‘pa’.