taws
Americannoun
plural
taws-
a whip or leather thong used to drive a spinning top.
-
a leather whip having its tip divided into smaller strips, used to punish schoolchildren.
Etymology
Origin of taws
1505–15; plural of obsolete taw < Old Norse taug rope; cognate with Old English tēag tie
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And you may helpe them much by enlarging their rootes with the taws of the tree, whence you take them.
From A New Orchard And Garden or, The best way for planting, grafting, and to make any ground good, for a rich Orchard: Particularly in the North and generally for the whole kingdome of England by Lawson, William, fl. 1618
In the marble season he was a plutocrat in taws and agates.
From The Cup of Fury A Novel of Cities and Shipyards by Raleigh, Henry
He re-seated her, and taking the taws from her trembling hand, carried it himself to the tyrant.
From Alec Forbes of Howglen by MacDonald, George
Their heads were not the heads of geese but of women artificially painted and with so-called taws, or marbles, for their eyes.
From The Goose Man by Porterfield, Allen Wilson
Ne'er use the taws when a gloom will do.
From The Proverbs of Scotland by Hislop, Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
