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# paw

«paw» in Mova's school dictionary: **the foot of an animal like a cat, dog, bear or rabbit…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a paw, paws); verb (paw, paws, pawed, pawing)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A paw is the foot of an animal like a cat, dog, bear or rabbit, usually with claws and soft pads. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paw/#m1)

2) To paw something means to touch or scratch it with a paw, like a dog pawing at the door. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paw/#m2)

3) To paw at something can mean a person touches it roughly or too much; «paws» is also a jokey word for hands. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paw/#m3)

4) Paw can also mean the hoof of a horse, which a horse scrapes at the ground with, often when it is impatient. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paw/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In science, paws help animals walk, run, dig, climb and hold food; pads cushion steps and claws grip. In everyday life with pets: a dog pawing at the door wants to go out; check a pet's paws for thorns, hot pavements or ice. In stories animals «raise a paw». Phrases: «paw prints», «a paw at the door», «get your paws off».

### examples

- The cat licked its paw. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paw/#x1)
- The dog pawed at the door to go out. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paw/#x2)
- We saw bear paw prints in the snow. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paw/#x3)
- My puppy gave me his paw. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paw/#x4)
- Hot pavements in summer can burn a dog's paws. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paw/#x5)
- The kitten batted the ball with its paw. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paw/#x6)
- Get your paws off my cake! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paw/#x7)
- The lion rested its head on its huge paws. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paw/#x8)
- Outside stood his faithful charger, pawing the ground. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paw/#x9)

### note

Countable: «a paw, paws». Homophones: «pour», «pore» and «poor» sound the same as «paw» for many speakers in the UK, Australia and New Zealand; in the US they usually sound different. Horses and cows have hooves, not paws; birds have feet or claws.

### In the corpora

- [The soles of a polar bear's paws have fur and small bumps that grip the ice and keep the feet warm.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/105-the-polar-zone-polar-bears/11/)
- [A raccoon dipping food in water is feeling it, not washing it; water makes its paws even more sensitive.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/224-raccoons-opossums-and-skunks/6/)
- [Most cats have 18 toes, five on each front paw and four on each back paw, and cats walk on their toes.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/327-a-kitten-at-home-litter-trays-scratching-posts-and-play/12/)
- [Your dog is fast asleep on the rug, but its paws are paddling, its lips twitch and it gives tiny muffled woofs.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/0/)
- [Drifting along, the Mole trails a paw in the water and dreams.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/26-willows-ch1-part2-the-river-and-the-wild-wood/2/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «paw» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paw/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.