Word.ws English Dictionary

give paw

UK/ˌɡɪv ˈpɔː/US/ˌɡɪv ˈpɔ/

give paw verb: of dogs, to present one's paw for a handshake with a human.

Verb

give paw (third-person singular simple present gives paw, present participle giving paw, simple past gave paw, past participle given paw)

  1. Of dogs, to present one's paw for a handshake with a human.
    • Special volitional movements impaired. Won't give paw because that performance result of individual education, requiring loop line.1988, William James, Manuscript Lectures, →ISBN, page 41
    • Even though both gave paw, only Willy received the treat. After this happened, Buck stopped giving paw almost immediately.2013, Brian Schmisek, Resurrection of the Flesh or Resurrection of the Dead, →ISBN, page 107
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see give, paw.

Interjection

  1. A command for a dog to give paw.
    • Lie down, Atherton, who's a good dog? Come on — give Dame Rosie a paw — paw, Atherton — give paw […]1999, Noël Coward, Star Chamber
    • "Okay, give paw." I caught her flopping paw, gave it a shake, and fed her the treat.2011, Michael Scotto, Latasha and the little red Tornado, →ISBN, page 28

Forms of give paw

third-person singular presentgives paw
present participlegiving paw
pastgave paw
past participlegiven paw

Questions about give paw

What does give paw mean?
Give paw means of dogs, to present one's paw for a handshake with a human.
What part of speech is give paw?
Give paw can be a verb or an interjection.
How do you pronounce give paw?
Give paw is pronounced /ˌɡɪv ˈpɔː/ (UK).
What is the past tense of give paw?
The past tense of give paw is gave paw.

Words near give paw in the dictionary

  1. give or take
  2. give out
  3. give out stink
  4. give over
  5. give pause
  6. give paw
  7. give place
  8. give pursuit
  9. give rise to
  10. give some skin
  11. give someone a bell

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: give paw (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “give paw.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/give_paw. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.