taws

[ tawz, tahz ]
See synonyms for taws on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural taws.Chiefly Scot.
  1. a whip or leather thong used to drive a spinning top.

  2. a leather whip having its tip divided into smaller strips, used to punish schoolchildren.

Origin of taws

1
1505–15; plural of obsolete taw<Old Norse taug rope; cognate with Old English tēagtie

Words Nearby taws

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use taws in a sentence

  • And you may helpe them much by enlarging their rootes with the taws of the tree, whence you take them.

    A New Orchard And Garden | William Lawson
  • You went away a fresh-faced lad, scarce weaned from your alley-taws and the chalky ring!

    Cardigan | Robert W. Chambers
  • One whipped daily and hourly with a hickory club with leather thongs attached at one end; this he called the "taws."

    Child Life in Colonial Days | Alice Morse Earle
  • "You deserve the taws about your back, sirrah, to forget my sacred office so far as to speak so," said the minister.

  • The game is concluded when all the marbles are shot out of the ring, or all the taws are killed.