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Paddle vs Pothole - What's the difference?

paddle | pothole |

As nouns the difference between paddle and pothole

is that paddle is a two-handed, single-bladed oar used to propel a canoe or a small boat while pothole is a shallow pit or other edged depression in a road's surface, especially when caused by erosion by weather or traffic.

As a verb paddle

is to propel something through water with a paddle, oar, hands, etc.

paddle

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) padell (1407, "small spade"), from Medieval Latin padela, perhaps from (etyl) patella "pan, plate", the diminutive of patina

Noun

(en noun)
  • A two-handed, single-bladed oar used to propel a canoe or a small boat.
  • A double-bladed oar used for kayaking.
  • Time spent on paddling.
  • We had a nice paddle this morning.
  • A slat of a paddleboat's wheel.
  • A paddlewheel.
  • A blade of a waterwheel.
  • (video games, dated) A game controller with a round wheel used to control player movement along one axis of the video screen.
  • (British) A meandering walk or dabble through shallow water, especially at the seaside.
  • A kitchen utensil shaped like a paddle and used for mixing, beating etc.
  • A bat-shaped spanking implement
  • ''The paddle practically ousted the British cane as the spanker's attribute in the independent US
  • A ping-pong bat.
  • A flat limb of an aquatic animal, adapted for swimming.
  • ''A sea turtle's paddles make it swim almost as fast as land tortoises are slow
  • In a sluice, a panel that controls the flow of water.
  • A group of inerts
  • A handheld defibrillation/cardioversion electrode
  • Derived terms
    * paddler * paddleboat * paddle board * paddlewheel * paddle steamer * paddling * dog paddle * traffic paddle
    See also
    * oar

    Verb

  • To propel something through water with a paddle, oar, hands, etc.
  • * L'Estrange
  • as the men were paddling for their lives
  • * (John Gay)
  • while paddling ducks the standing lake desire
  • * 1884 : (Mark Twain), (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), Chapter IX
  • Daytimes we paddled all over the island in the canoe
  • To row a boat with less than one's full capacity.
  • To spank with a paddle.
  • To pat or stroke amorously or gently.
  • * Shakespeare
  • to be paddling palms and pinching fingers.
  • To tread upon; to trample.
  • Etymology 2

    Recorded since 1530, probably cognate with Low German paddeln "to tramp about," frequent. of padjen "to tramp, to run in short steps," from pad (also in Dutch dialects)

    Verb

  • (British) To walk or dabble playfully in shallow water, especially at the seaside.
  • To toddle
  • (archaic) To toy or caress using hands or fingers
  • pothole

    English

    Etymology 1

    c 1826, from (etyl) + (hole)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A shallow pit or other edged depression in a road's surface, especially when caused by erosion by weather or traffic.
  • A pit formed in the bed of a turbulent stream.
  • * The earliest ideas on the creation of potholes''' are that they were associated with "moulins de glacier" (glacier mills) formed where surface streams on glaciers and ice sheets fall into holes in the ice. Water entering these surficial holes was believed to impact on the bedrock beneath creating a large '''pothole'''. The "Moulin Hypothesis", first suggested in 1874, continued to be accepted by many authors until the 1950s. However, commencing in the 1930s, other authors have suggested dissatisfaction with the moulin hypothesis, largely on the grounds that it failed to explain how ice could remain stable long enough for the "giant" '''potholes''' to form and why many '''potholes (like those at Rockwood) were present in large numbers. Grand River Conservation Authority (Canada) Newsletter of May-June 2002.
  • (geology) A vertical cave system, often found in limestone.
  • Synonyms
    * (large pit in the bed of a stream) giant kettle
    Derived terms
    * potholing

    See also

    * sinkhole

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaeology) A pit resulting from unauthorized excavation by treasure hunters or vandals.