I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
cat's paw
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
front
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They catch them with one front paw and throw them over their shoulders on to the bank.
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When I put my front paws on my lady's shoulders, I was about a foot taller than her.
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His front left paw was broken and crawling with maggots.
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The tiger's front paws are its main hunting weapon.
■ VERB
hold
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I stared at the eyes of a blind toy, holding its paw .
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The giant holds out a paw full of money for the barman.
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He held one paw forward in an awkward, unnatural way and kept licking it miserably.
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Then he sat back on his haunches and sniffed the air, holding his paws in the air for quiet.
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He held it between his paws and nibbled feebly.
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She held Lizzie's paw , looked into her big, brown eyes, wishing Lizzie could live for ever.
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They were holding paws and singing.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
grubby hands/paws/mitts
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Benedict imprisoned her closer, oblivious to her grubby hands caught against the pristine whiteness of his neckcloth.
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Every grubby penny I can get my grubby hands on, every grubby day of my grubby little life..
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The children are fighting under the tank, catching drips like diamonds in their grubby hands.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Get your paws off my pizza!
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Our dog cut his paw on a piece of metal.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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He sat down and pushed at the lid with one filthy paw .
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His hide is removed with head and paws attached and arranged upon a rack to look alive.
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I stared at the eyes of a blind toy, holding its paw .
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Snyde came closer, reached out a paw and touched Whillan's flank strangely, casting a lingering look at it.
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The cat rolled on to her side, stretched, put a paw across her eyes.
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The researchers injected formalin into animals' paws and watched how often they licked the wound.
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There were paw marks on the windows.
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They can speak, via a whirring mechanical voice box, and they have mechanical human hands rather than paws.
II. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
ground
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Midnight came to a halt, snorting and pawing the ground .
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I just laid there playing dead, and he was pawing the ground , trying to get me to get up.
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Ahead of them, a woman of about sixty in a blue tracksuit pawed the ground in the jogger's equivalent of neutral.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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First he drank too much, then he started pawing me.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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He paws at me, licks me, nuzzles me and I talk back.
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I watched a cat pawing at butterflies in the courtyard.
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Never, not even when some aroused, overweight, ugly Casanova had tried to paw her.
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The cat turned and looked at them, and it pawed the air.
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The ground was freshly pawed by deer, and the smooth black earth showed the criss-cross pattern of their hoof prints.
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The horses pawed, shaking their manes and switching tails, and harness jangled.
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There were guys coming in almost every night, groping and pawing me just because I served them a beer or two.