/tɔːz/
OriginApparently a plural form of taw, though attested earlier.
- ScotlandA 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.
“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 ”
- Scotland, transitiveTo beat with a tawse.
Formstawses(plural) · taws(alternative) · tawses(present, singular, third-person) · tawsing(participle, present) · tawsed(participle, past) · tawsed(past)