Library / English Dictionary

PADDLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A short light oar used without an oarlock to propel a canoe or small boat

Synonyms:

boat paddle; paddle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("paddle" is a kind of...):

oar (an implement used to propel or steer a boat)

Derivation:

paddle (propel with a paddle)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An instrument of punishment consisting of a flat board

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("paddle" is a kind of...):

instrument of punishment (an instrument designed and used to punish a condemned person)

Derivation:

paddle (give a spanking to; subject to a spanking)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A blade of a paddle wheel or water wheel

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("paddle" is a kind of...):

blade; vane (flat surface that rotates and pushes against air or water)

Holonyms ("paddle" is a part of...):

mill wheel; millwheel (water wheel that is used to drive machinery in a mill)

paddle wheel; paddlewheel (a large wheel fitted with paddles and driven by an engine in order to propel a boat)

Derivation:

paddle (stir with a paddle)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Small wooden bat with a flat surface; used for hitting balls in various games

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("paddle" is a kind of...):

bat (a club used for hitting a ball in various games)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "paddle"):

pingpong paddle; table-tennis bat; table-tennis racquet (paddle used to play table tennis)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Stir with a paddle

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "paddle" is one way to...):

stir (move an implement through)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

paddle (a blade of a paddle wheel or water wheel)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give a spanking to; subject to a spanking

Synonyms:

larrup; paddle; spank

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "paddle" is one way to...):

beat; beat up; work over (give a beating to; subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to paddle the prisoners

Derivation:

paddle (an instrument of punishment consisting of a flat board)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Walk unsteadily

Example:

small children toddle

Synonyms:

coggle; dodder; paddle; toddle; totter; waddle

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "paddle" is one way to...):

walk (use one's feet to advance; advance by steps)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

The children paddle to the playground

Sense 4

Meaning:

Propel with a paddle

Example:

paddle your own canoe

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "paddle" is one way to...):

boat (ride in a boat on water)

Domain category:

athletics; sport (an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "paddle"):

feather; square (turn the paddle; in canoeing)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

paddle (a short light oar used without an oarlock to propel a canoe or small boat)

paddler (someone paddling a canoe)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Swim like a dog in shallow water

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "paddle" is one way to...):

swim (travel through water)

Domain category:

aquatics; water sport (sports that involve bodies of water)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 6

Meaning:

Play in or as if in water, as of small children

Synonyms:

dabble; paddle; splash around

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "paddle" is one way to...):

play (be at play; be engaged in playful activity; amuse oneself in a way characteristic of children)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

The British astronomer Stephen Hawking has famously compared crossing this boundary to going over Niagra Falls in a canoe: if you are above the falls, it is still possible to escape if you paddle hard enough.

(Astronomers Piece Together First Image of Black Hole, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

In another, the ground was cumbered with rusty iron monsters of steam-boilers, wheels, cranks, pipes, furnaces, paddles, anchors, diving-bells, windmill-sails, and I know not what strange objects, accumulated by some speculator, and grovelling in the dust, underneath which—having sunk into the soil of their own weight in wet weather—they had the appearance of vainly trying to hide themselves.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Well, well, he added, looking round at the walls of the room, here are all my old curios, the same as ever: the narwhal’s horn from the Arctic, and the blowfish from the Moluccas, and the paddles from Fiji, and the picture of the Ca Ira with Lord Hotham in chase.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was one thwart set as low as possible, a kind of stretcher in the bows, and a double paddle for propulsion.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Not only the hand, but the hard wooden paddle was used upon him; and he was bruised and sore in all his small body when he was again flung down in the canoe.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

In the stern he saw a young bronzed god in scarlet hip-cloth dipping a flashing paddle.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Bill would be waiting for him there, and they would paddle away south down the Dease to the Great Bear Lake.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The wind was very favourable; however, I made use at first only of my paddles; but considering I should soon be weary, and that the wind might chop about, I ventured to set up my little sail; and thus, with the help of the tide, I went at the rate of a league and a half an hour, as near as I could guess.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Laurie and Jo rowed one boat, Mr. Brooke and Ned the other, while Fred Vaughn, the riotous twin, did his best to upset both by paddling about in a wherry like a disturbed water bug.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Clear as crystal, motionless as a sheet of glass, green as the edge of an iceberg, it stretched in front of us under its leafy archway, every stroke of our paddles sending a thousand ripples across its shining surface.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)