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Flaw vs Claw - What's the difference?

flaw | claw |

In obsolete terms the difference between flaw and claw

is that flaw is a thin cake, as of ice while claw is to rail at; to scold.

flaw

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) flawe, .

Noun

(en noun)
  • (obsolete) A flake, fragment, or shiver.
  • (obsolete) A thin cake, as of ice.
  • A crack or breach, a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion.
  • There is a flaw in that knife.
    That vase has a flaw .
  • * Shakespeare
  • This heart / Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws .
  • A defect, fault, or imperfection, especially one that is hidden.
  • * South
  • Has not this also its flaws and its dark side?
  • A defect or error in a contract or other document which may make the document invalid.
  • a flaw in a will, in a deed, or in a statute
    Synonyms
    * See also
    Derived terms
    * tragic flaw

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To add a flaw to, to make imperfect or defective.
  • To become imperfect or defective.
  • Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration.
  • * Milton
  • Snow, and hail, and stormy gust and flaw .
  • * Tennyson
  • Like flaws in summer laying lusty corn.
  • A storm of short duration.
  • A sudden burst of noise and disorder; a tumult; uproar; a quarrel.
  • * Dryden
  • And deluges of armies from the town / Came pouring in; I heard the mighty flaw .

    Anagrams

    * ----

    claw

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) clawe, from (etyl) clawu, from (etyl) . Compare West Frisian klau, Dutch klauw, German Klaue, Danish klo.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A curved, pointed horny nail on each digit of the foot of a mammal, reptile, or bird.
  • A foot equipped with such.
  • The pincer (chela) of a crustacean or other arthropod.
  • A mechanical device resembling a claw, used for gripping or lifting.
  • (botany) A slender appendage or process, formed like a claw, such as the base of petals of the pink.
  • (Gray)
  • (juggling, uncountable) The act of catching a ball overhand.
  • Derived terms
    * claw hammer * get one's claws into

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) clawian, from clawu.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To scratch or to tear at.
  • * '>citation
  • Using her hands like windshield wipers, she tried to flick snow away from her mouth. When she clawed at her chest and neck, the crumbs maddeningly slid back onto her face. She grew claustrophobic.
  • To use the claws to seize, to grip.
  • To use the claws to climb.
  • (juggling) To perform a catch.
  • To move with one's fingertips.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=October 15 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Liverpool 1 - 1 Man Utd , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=De Gea was United's hero again within seconds of Hernandez's equaliser, diving to his left to claw away Dirk Kuyt's shot as he got on the end of a superb cross from Stewart Downing.}}
  • (obsolete) To relieve uneasy feeling, such as an itch, by scratching; hence, to humor or flatter, to court someone.
  • * 1599 ,
  • I cannot hide what I am: I must be sad when I have cause, and smile at no man's jests; eat when I have stomach, and wait for no man's leisure; sleep when I am drowsy, and tend on no man's business; laugh when I am merry, and claw no man in his humour.
  • * Holland
  • Rich men they claw , soothe up, and flatter; the poor they contemn and despise.
  • (obsolete) To rail at; to scold.
  • * T. Fuller
  • In the aforesaid preamble, the king fairly claweth' the great monasteries, wherein, saith he, religion, thanks be to God, is right well kept and observed; though he ' claweth them soon after in another acceptation.