taws
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taw 1
(tô)tr.v. tawed, taw·ing, taws
To convert (an animal hide) into white leather by treating it with a mixture containing alum and salt.
[Middle English tawen, from Old English tawian, to prepare.]
taw′er n.
taw 2
(tô)n.
1. Chiefly Southern US A large, fancy marble used for shooting.
2. The line from which a player shoots in marbles.
3. A game of marbles.
intr.v. tawed, taw·ing, taws
To shoot a marble.
[Origin unknown.]
taw 3
(täf, tôf)n.
Variant of tav.
tawse
or taws (tôz)pl.n. Chiefly Scots
1. A whip or leather thong used to drive a spinning top.
2. A leather whip divided at the end into strips, formerly used to punish children: "Solider Aristotle played the taws / Upon the bottom of a king of kings" (William Butler Yeats).
[From taw.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
taws
(tɔz, tɑz)n., pl. taws. Chiefly Scot.
a leather whip having its tip divided into smaller strips, used to punish schoolchildren.
[1505–15; pl. of obsolete taw < Old Norse taug rope, c. Old English tēag tie]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
taws
Past participle: tawsed
Gerund: tawsing
Imperative |
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taws |
taws |
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011