1 one of the sharp curved nails on the end of an animal's or a bird's foot:
The cat lashed out with its claws.
2 a long, sharp curved part of the body of some types of SHELLFISH, used for catching and holding things:
the claws of a crab
3 part of a tool or machine, like a claw, used for holding, pulling or lifting things:
a claw hammer (= used for pulling out nails)
IDIOMS
get your claws into sb
1 (disapproving) if a woman gets her claws into a man, she tries hard to make him marry her or to have a relationship with her:
She's really got her claws into you!
2 to criticize sb severely:
Wait until the media gets its claws into her.
moreatREDadj.
verb ~ (at) sb/sth to scratch or tear sb/sth with claws or with your fingernails: [V] The cat was clawing at the leg of the chair. * (figurative) Branches clawed at her hair. * [VN] She had clawed Stephen across the face. * (figurative) His hands clawed the air.
IDIOMS
claw your way back, into sth, out of sth, to sth, etc. to gradually achieve sth or move somewhere by using a lot of determination and effort:
She clawed her way to the top of her profession. * Slowly, he clawed his way out from under the collapsed building.
PHRASALVERBS
claw sth<->back
1 to get sth back that you have lost, usually by using a lot of effort:
The company is trying to claw back its share of the market. * Newcastle managed to claw a goal back.
2 (of a government) to get back money that has been paid to people, usually by taxing them:
The Chancellor is expected to claw back ｣2.8 billion in the budget.
relatednounCLAWBACK
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About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
This entry for claw is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Is claw a noun, verb, or something else?
In this entry, claw is tagged as noun.
Does claw appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — claw appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.
