Wiktionary

paddy paw

English edit

Etymology edit

pad + -y + paw

Noun edit

paddy paw (plural paddy paws)

  1. An animal's paw with a soft pad.
    • 1895 November, Rudyard Kipling, “How Fear Came”, in The Second Jungle Book, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 9:
      Mowgli was sitting cross-legged, and explaining things with his forefinger in his usual way, when Bagheera put out a paddy paw and pulled him over backwards into the water.
    • 2002, Hazel Hutchins, TJ and the Cats:
      He reached out a paddy paw. Bat. Bat. The door bounced ajar. Max walked in.
    • 2006, Jonathan Stroud, Ptolemy's Gate:
      My voice was velvet-smooth. "Be careful, though. I'm not exactly defenseless myself." From my paddy-paw a talon popped, curved like a sickle moon.
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