Word.ws English Dictionary

paws

UK/pɔːz//pɔːz/

paws is the plural of paw.

paws is the third-person singular simple present indicative of paw.

Meaning of paw

Noun

paw (plural paws)

  1. The soft foot of a mammal or other animal, generally a quadruped, that has claws or nails; comparable to a human hand or foot.
    Synonyms:
    hand, foot
  2. (also, humorous, slang) A hand.
    • Get your grubby paws off my things!

See all 7 meanings of paw

Noun (1)

paws

  1. (humorous, informal) pause, used in contexts of animals with paws
    • You fine folks here, particularly Joanne (mom to 14 rats) and Paghat, posted very passionate and informative articles, which gave me paws (pun intended) to think twice about the "advice" my vet had given me about pine shavings being safe for rattie's bedding.2003 November 24, Mark Mestman <guitarmakermark@yahoo.com>, “Trying Aspen Bedding.......”, in alt.pets.rodents.rats (Usenet), via Google Groups, archived from the original on 11 Jan 2026
    • Watch a cat named Milo sabotage a purrfectly peaceful yoga routine in a video posted by a user named "jahzyoga" a "yoga teacher" and "jazz vocalist." Dare we suggest, maybe he was trying to hit the "paws" button?2014 March 13, Olivia B. Waxman, “WATCH: Cat Interrupts Yoga Session, Ruins the Mew-d”, in Time, via EBSCOhost, →ISSN

Verb

paws (third-person singular simple present pawses, present participle pawsing, simple past and past participle pawsed)

  1. (humorous, informal) to pause, used in contexts of animals with paws
    • If you paws the game at a right moemnt you ger really interesting ScarSimba position results ;)^([sic])1998 June 28, Sichi/Sarafina <sichi@lionking.org>, “Re: (fwd) Stuck in Lion King Game "Be Prepared" (fwd)”, in alt.fan.lion-king (Usenet), via Google Groups, archived from the original on 11 Jan 2026
    • The Amazing Puppy Wizard has pawsed to think of EVERY THING, abHOWET dogs and behavior.2004 December 1, The Puppy Wizard <ThePuppyWizard@earthlink.net>, “Re: Re: 1 and a half year old german shepherd is afraid of our new house”, in rec.pets.dogs.misc (Usenet), via Google Groups...

Noun (2) capitalized: PAWS

PAWS (uncountable)

  1. (abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of pervasive arousal withdrawal syndrome.
  2. (abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of post-acute-withdrawal syndrome.

Proper noun capitalized: PAWS

PAWS

  1. (Philippines, abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of Philippine Animal Welfare Society.

Forms of paws

third-person singular presentpawses
present participlepawsing
past participlepawsed
pastpawsed

Origin of paws

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pun on pause sounding identical to paws (plural of paw).

Words formed from paws

Phrases with paws

4 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with paws

7 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about paws

What does paws mean?
Paws means pause, used in contexts of animals with paws.
What is paws the plural of?
Paws is the plural of paw.
What part of speech is paws?
Paws can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce paws?
Paws is pronounced /pɔːz/ (UK).

Words near paws in the dictionary

  1. pawpaws
  2. pawprint
  3. pawprints
  4. pawrent
  5. pawrents
  6. paws
  7. paws at
  8. paws off
  9. paws up
  10. Pawsey
  11. pawsful

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: paws (page history and authors); PAWS (page history and authors); 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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-paws.ogg.

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