ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Tawse

Definition, Meaning & Examples

Pronunciation /tɔːz/ · Part of speech noun

Quick meaning: Tawse is a noun meaning (transitive, chiefly Scotland) To beat with a tawse.

Meaning

(transitive, chiefly Scotland) To beat with a tawse.

More Meanings

  1. (chiefly Scotland) A leather strap or thong which is split into (typically three) tails, used for corporal punishment in schools, applied to the palm of the hands or buttocks.

Example Sentences

I lay about me with the taws That night and morning I may thrash Greek Alexander from my flesh, […]
[W]hile James Murray might punish a late comer by a stroke on the palm of the hand, the children found his lessons so interesting that he had no need to resort to the "tawse", the traditional leather strap, that descended on the shoulders of Mr Dodds' pupils at the United school.

Word Forms

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include strap, tail, tace, singletail, taslet, wanty.

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Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.