/pah"toh/ ; Sp. /pah"taw/ , n.
an Argentine game played by two teams of four on horseback, resembling a cross between polo and basketball, using a ball with six large leather handles, the object of which is to place or throw the ball through the opponent's net that hangs from a 9 ft. (2.7 m) high pole.
[ pata leg, foot (of an animal); cf. PAW 1 ); the game was allegedly first played with a duck in a skin or leather bag ]