taws
Americannoun
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taws
plural
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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.
He re-seated her, and taking the taws from her trembling hand, carried it himself to the tyrant.
From Alec Forbes of Howglen by George MacDonald
In the marble season he was a plutocrat in taws and agates.
From The Cup of Fury A Novel of Cities and Shipyards by Henry Raleigh
"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 Sir Hall Caine
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 Sir Richard Steele
Also there were three glass alleys, two agate taws and thirty-eight commies.
From The Seeker by Harry Leon Wilson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
