taws
Americannoun
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a whip or leather thong used to drive a spinning top.
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a leather whip having its tip divided into smaller strips, used to punish schoolchildren.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
This prince took a pleasure in conversing with me, inquiring into the manners, religion, taws, government, and learning of Europe; wherein I gave him the best account I was able.
From Gulliver's Travels Into Several Remote Regions of the World by Balliet, Thomas M.
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
"You deserve the taws about your back, sirrah, to forget my sacred office so far as to speak so," said the minister.
From The Shadow of a Crime A Cumbrian Romance by Caine, Hall, Sir
He may also strive to place his adversaries' taws within the inner ring, and to be careful in striking planets that they fall into the orbits where the forfeitures are small.
From The Book of Sports: Containing Out-door Sports, Amusements and Recreations, Including Gymnastics, Gardening & Carpentering by Martin, William
He is the most stupid of all my mother's children: he knows nothing of his book: when he should mind that, he is hiding or hoarding his taws and marbles, or laying up farthings.
From The Tatler, Volume 1, 1899 by Aitken, George A.
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.
