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.
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
To prevent the loss of taws one of us was sent ahead to watch for their coming and listen for the faint thud of their fall, while the other three drove from the tee.
From The Complete Golfer by Vardon, Harry
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 Isaac Bickerstaff, physician and astrologer by Steele, Richard, Sir
"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
From that moment he ruled them by his eye, the taws vanished.
From Spare Hours by Brown, John
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.
