PADDLE

I. intransitive verb (~d; paddling) Etymology: origin unknown Date: 1530 to move the hands or feet about in shallow water, to use the hands or fingers in toying or caressing, toddle , ~r noun II. noun Etymology: Middle English padell spade-shaped tool for cleaning a plow Date: 1624 1. a usually wooden implement that has a long handle and a broad flattened blade and that is used to propel and steer a small craft (as a canoe), an implement often with a short handle and a broad flat blade that is used for stirring, mixing, or hitting, a small usually numbered sign that is raised by a bidder at an auction to signal a bid, a flat electrode that is the part of a defibrillator placed on the chest of a patient and through which a shock of electricity is discharged, 2. any of the broad boards at the circumference of a ~ wheel or waterwheel, any of the broad blades attached to a shaft (as in an ice cream machine) and used for stirring, a computer input device with a dial used to control linear movement of a cursor on a computer display, III. verb (~d; paddling) Date: 1677 intransitive verb to go on or through water by or as if by means of a ~ or ~ wheel, transitive verb 1. to propel by a ~, to transport in a ~d craft , 2. to beat or stir with or as if with a ~ (as in washing or dyeing), to punish by or as if by beating with a ~, ~r noun