Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A leather strap, usually with a slit or fringe-like end, used as an instrument of punishment by schoolmasters and others.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Scot. A leather lash, or other instrument of punishment, used by a schoolmaster.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Alternative spelling of
tawse . - noun Plural form of
taw . - verb Third-person singular simple present indicative form of
taw .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Their heads were not the heads of geese but of women artificially painted and with so-called taws, or marbles, for their eyes.
Gänsemännchen. English Jakob Wassermann 1903
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The master's "taws" were a wholesome deterrent of persistent or mistaken trapping; and, in addition, the trapped boys sometimes rectified matters at the back of the school at the play-hour, when fists became a high court of appeal and review.
Bog-Myrtle and Peat Tales Chiefly of Galloway Gathered from the Years 1889 to 1895 1887
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Plz tew nawt punt, kik, hit wif sportz ekqipmint, frow, pich, taws, or udurwaiz treet liek regulur bawl.
HAREBALL - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2008
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As is going back to taws and re-reading the oryginal.
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Each of them had given him some little present of the best that he had, and his small private box was full of peg-taps, white marbles (called "alley-taws" in the Vale), screws, birds 'eggs, whip-cord, jews-harps, and other miscellaneous boys' wealth.
Tom Brown's Schooldays Hughes, Thomas, 1822-1896 1971
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He may also strive to place his adversaries 'taws within the inner ring, and to be careful in striking planets that they fall into the orbits where the forfeitures are small.
The Book of Sports: Containing Out-door Sports, Amusements and Recreations, Including Gymnastics, Gardening & Carpentering William Martin
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If I had seen our good Bishop White playing at taws, I could not have been more overcome, and I dare say my face may have shown it, for, glancing at me, he said demurely, "Thee has seen in thy lifetime how hard it is to get rid of what thee liked in thy days of boyhood."
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 17, No. 102, June, 1876 Various
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Come, Grainier, a little pity! be generous in thy turn; taws she that showed thee the way.
I. Gringoire Has Several Bright Ideas in Succession in the Rue des Bernardins. Book X 1917
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"And we make taws and whips out of his thick hide to correct little boys, if they have too much to say sometimes," remarked Fil's father, who winked at me, showing that his words were more severe than were his intentions or acts.
Fil and Filippa Story of Child Life in the Philippines John Stuart Thomson 1909
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Indeed, bearing in mind the date of it, and the very active and zealous part played by rod and taws in those days – in educational establishments dedicated to little girls hardly less than in those dedicated to their brothers – we may feel certain that it was crossed by a good many discomforts, which in maturer years we should be apt to describe as tolerably full-grown sufferings.
Maria Edgeworth 1905
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