pawing

paw

P p

Definitions of pawing word

noun pawing the foot of an animal having claws. 1
noun pawing the foot of any animal. 1
noun pawing Informal. the human hand, especially one that is large, rough, or clumsy: Keep your paws off my property. 1
verb with object pawing to strike or scrape with the paws or feet: a dog pawing the door. 1
verb with object pawing Informal. to handle or caress clumsily, rudely, or with unwelcome familiarity. 1
verb without object pawing to beat or scrape the floor, ground, etc., with the paws or feet. 1

before 1300

One of the 15% oldest English words

1300-50; Middle English pawe, variant of powe < Middle French poue (cognate with Provençal pauta) < Germanic; compare Dutch poot, German Pfote

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 85% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.

Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer