Your ShelfYour Projects
Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Claw

Claw, n.

noun

n. [A-S. clæw, clā, Icel. klauf, klō, Sw. klo, Dan. klo, D. klouwe, klaauw, O. H. Ger. chlawa, M. H. Ger. klawe, klā, N. H. Ger. klaue.]

  1. A sharp, hooked nail, as of a beast or bird.
  2. The whole foot of an animal armed with hooked nails; the pincers of a lobster, crab, and the like.
  3. Any thing resembling the claw of an animal, as the curved and forked end of a hammer for drawing nails.
  4. (Bot.) A slender appendage or process, formed like a claw; as the slender base of some petals, as those of the pink. Gray.

Claw, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. CLAWED (klawd); p. pr. & vb. n. CLAWING.] [A-S. clawian. See supra.]

Sense 1. To pull, tear, or scratch with claws or nails.

Sense 2. To relieve, as by scratching, from some uneasy sensation; to tickle;—hence, to flatter; to court.

Rich men they claw, soothe up, and flatter; the poor they contemn and despise. Holland.

Sense 3. To get off or escape.

To claw away, to scold or revile. “The jade Fortune is to be clawed away for it, if you should lose it.” L’Estrange.—To claw off (Naut.), to turn to windward and beat, to prevent falling on a lee shore.