forepaw

noun

fore·​paw ˈfȯr-ˌpȯ How to pronounce forepaw (audio)
: the paw of a foreleg

Examples of forepaw in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Nearly half involved active hunting by squirrels, who usually pounced on a target vole and restrained it with its forepaws and teeth. Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 18 Dec. 2024 At the Chelsea production offices, an elevator door opened and there was Bing, magisterial in every respect: a lean, muscular hundred and forty-five pounds and, by the prop department’s tape measure, forty-two inches tall from his forepaws to the top of his skull. Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker, 6 May 2024 Startled from its slumber, the tennis ball-sized silky anteater raises its forepaws defensively like a boxer. James Hall, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Oct. 2023 The Telefol say that this story explains why ground cuscuses have four digits on each forepaw. Tim Flannery, The New York Review of Books, 3 Dec. 2020 Observers have even reported seeing domestic cats trap two cicadas at once, one under each forepaw. Jillian Mock, Scientific American, 9 Apr. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1782, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of forepaw was in 1782

Dictionary Entries Near forepaw

Cite this Entry

“Forepaw.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forepaw. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.

Kids Definition

forepaw

noun
fore·​paw -ˌpȯ How to pronounce forepaw (audio)
: the paw of a foreleg

Medical Definition

forepaw

noun
fore·​paw -ˌpȯ How to pronounce forepaw (audio)
: the paw of a foreleg
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