tawse
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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.
tawse
(tɔːz) ortaws
n
(Education) a leather strap having one end cut into thongs, formerly used as an instrument of punishment by a schoolteacher
vb
(Education) to punish (someone) with or as if with a tawse; whip
[C16: probably plural of obsolete taw strip of leather; see taw2]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
tawse
Past participle: tawsed
Gerund: tawsing
Imperative |
---|
tawse |
tawse |
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
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Noun | 1. | tawse - a leather strap for punishing children strap - whip consisting of a strip of leather used in flogging Scotland - one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; located on the northern part of the island of Great Britain; famous for bagpipes and plaids and kilts |
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