<B>paddle</B> (1), noun, verb, <B>-dled,</B> <B>-dling.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a short oar with a broad blade at one end or both ends, used without an oarlock. Paddles are used especially to propel canoes and kayaks. <DD><B> 2. </B>the act of paddling; turn at the paddle. <BR> <I>Ex. Each man had a paddle for an hour and then a rest.</I> <DD><B> 3a. </B>one of the broad boards fixed around a water wheel or a paddle wheel to push, or be pushed by, the water. <BR> <I>Ex. Some tugs on rivers still have paddles.</I> <DD><B> b. </B><B>=paddle wheel.</B> <DD><B> 4. </B>a paddle-shaped piece of wood used for stirring or for mixing. <BR> <I>Ex. The butter churn had two paddles to whip the cream.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>an instrument or tool of this shape, used in various trades or industries, especially for stirring and mixing. <DD><B> 6. </B>a flipper or similar limb, such as that of a turtle, whale, or penguin. <DD><B> 7. </B>a small, flat wooden racket, faced with sandpaper or rubber, used to hit the ball in table or paddle tennis; racket. <DD><B> 8. </B>the signaling arm of a semaphore. <DD><B> 9. </B>Also, <B>pettle.</B> (British.) a small, long-handled, spadelike tool used for cleaning a plowshare, digging up thistles, etc. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to move (a canoe or boat) with a paddle or paddles. <BR> <I>Ex. The explorers paddled their canoe cautiously upstream.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to transport or convey, as in a canoe, by paddling. <BR> <I>Ex. She would herself paddle me off to the ship (Herman Melville).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to beat with a paddle; spank. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to use a paddle to move a canoe or boat through water. <BR> <I>Ex. Being fatigued with rowing, or paddling, as it is called (Daniel Defoe).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to row gently, so as barely to move through the water or simply to hold a boat steady against the current. <BR> <I>Ex. a rainbow shell That paddles in a halcyon sea (Christina G. Rossetti).</I> noun <B>paddler.</B> adj. <B>paddlelike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="paddle">
<B>paddle</B> (2), intransitive verb, <B>-dled,</B> <B>-dling.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to move the hands or feet about in water; dabble or play in shallow water. <BR> <I>Ex. the children paddling in the mud puddle. Children love to paddle at the beach.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to toy with the fingers. <DD><B> 3. </B>to walk with short, unsteady steps, like those of a young child; toddle. noun <B>paddler.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="paddleball">
<B>paddleball, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a game in which two opposing sides alternate in hitting a tennis ball with a wooden paddle against a single wall or the walls of a court. </DL>
<A NAME="paddleboat">
<B>paddleboat, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a steamboat equipped with a paddle wheel on each side or one at the stern; paddlesteamer. </DL>
<A NAME="paddleboard">
<B>paddleboard, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a surfboard shaped somewhat like the blade of a paddle. </DL>
<A NAME="paddlebox">
<B>paddle box,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the guard or casing covering the upper part of a paddle wheel. </DL>
<A NAME="paddlecourt">
<B>paddle court,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a level, rectangular area, half the size of a tennis court, prepared and marked out for playing paddle tennis. </DL>
<A NAME="paddledoll">
<B>paddle doll,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an ancient Egyptian figurine carved in the shape of a canoe paddle, with lines painted or carved on it to look like clothes, and hair made of short strings of beads. </DL>
<A NAME="paddlefish">
<B>paddlefish, </B>noun, pl. <B>-fishes</B> or (collectively) <B>-fish.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a large, scaleless fish with sharklike fins and an oarlike snout which is a sense organ probably used in locating food; spoonbill. The paddlefish lives in the rivers of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes and is usually about four feet long. It is related to the sturgeon. </DL>
<A NAME="paddlefoot">
<B>paddle foot,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) an infantry soldier. </DL>
<B>paddle tennis,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a game of tennis played with wooden paddles on a court half the size of a tennis court and using a lower net than that of a tennis court. </DL>
<A NAME="paddlewheel">
<B>paddle wheel,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a wheel with paddles fixed around it for propelling a ship over the water. </DL>
<A NAME="paddlewheeler">
<B>paddlewheeler, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a boat or ship equipped with paddle wheels or a paddle wheel. </DL>
<A NAME="paddock">
<B>paddock</B> (1), noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a small, enclosed field near a stable or house, used for exercising animals or as a pasture, especially for horses. <BR> <I>Ex. Ten cows were grazed in each break and moved into a new paddock every morning (John Hancock).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a pen at a race track, where horses are saddled before a race. <DD><B> 3. </B>(in Australia and New Zealand) any field or piece of tillable or grass-covered land enclosed by a fence, often used as a sheep and cattle pasture. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to put or keep in or as if in a paddock. <BR> <I>Ex. Shakespeare himself would have been commonplace had he been paddocked in a thinly-shaven vocabulary (James Russell Lowell).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(in Australia) to fence in (land). </DL>
<B>paddy</B> (1), noun, pl. <B>-dies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a field of rice; paddyfield. <BR> <I>Ex. From 4,300 acres of paddy the family's holding dropped to 10 acres (London Times).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>rice in the husk, uncut or gathered. Also, <B>padi.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="paddy">
<B>paddy</B> (2), noun, pl. <B>-dies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (British Informal.) a tantrum; paddywhack. </DL>
<A NAME="paddy">
<B>Paddy, </B>noun, pl. <B>-dies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) a nickname for an Irishman. </DL>
<A NAME="paddybird">
<B>paddybird, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various birds that frequent rice fields, such as the Java sparrow. </DL>
<A NAME="paddyfield">
<B>paddyfield, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a water-covered field in which rice is grown; paddy. <BR> <I>Ex. The dry season drains the swamps and paddyfields (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="paddymelon">
<B>paddymelon, </B>noun. <B>=pademelon.</B></DL>
<A NAME="paddywagon">
<B>paddy wagon,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Slang.) a patrol wagon. </DL>
<A NAME="paddywhack">
<B>paddywhack, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(U.S. Informal.) a spanking or beating. <DD><B> 2. </B>(British Informal.) a rage; passion; temper. </DL>
<A NAME="pademelon">
<B>pademelon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a small Australian kangaroo. </DL>
<A NAME="padfoot">
<B>pad foot,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a flattened ornamental foot at the end of a cabriole leg. <BR> <I>Ex. A Queen Anne table with ... cabriole legs and pad feet has come through unscathed (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="padi">
<B>padi, </B>noun, pl. <B>padis.</B> <B>=paddy</B> (1).</DL>
<A NAME="padishah">
<B>padishah</B> or <B>Padishah, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> great king; emperor (a title applied especially to the Shah of Iran and, formerly, to the Sultan of Turkey or to the British sovereign as emperor of India). </DL>
<A NAME="padlock">
<B>padlock, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a lock that can be put on and removed. A padlock is used to keep a hasp closed or on a chain, locker, or gate. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to fasten with a padlock. <BR> <I>Ex. the playground gates were padlocked as soon as school was out (Atlantic).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="padnag">
<B>padnag, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a horse with an easy gait; pad. </DL>
<A NAME="padouk">
<B>padouk, </B>noun. <B>=padauk.</B></DL>
<A NAME="padre">
<B>padre, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>father. It is used as a name for a priest, especially in regions where Spanish, Portuguese, or Italian is spoken. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Informal.) a chaplain in the armed forces. <BR> <I>Ex. To some villages a padre has come from the services who has faced the grimmest realities (J. W. R. Scott).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="padrone">
<B>padrone, </B>noun, pl. <B>padroni,</B> (for 1;) <B>padrones</B> (for 2.)<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Italian.) <DD><B> a. </B>a master; boss. <DD><B> b. </B>an innkeeper. <DD><B> c. </B>the master of a small coastal vessel. <DD><B> 2. </B>a man who controls and supplies Italian laborers on contract with an employer, as in America. Originally he was paid by the employer, and his force of recent immigrant laborers was given a nominal wage by the padrone. </DL>
<A NAME="padronism">
<B>padronism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> boss control of Italian laborers. </DL>
<A NAME="paduan">
<B>Paduan, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with Padua, a city in northeastern Italy, or its people. <DD><I>noun </I> a native or inhabitant of Padua. </DL>
<A NAME="paduasoy">
<B>paduasoy, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a smooth, strong, heavy, rich fabric of corded silk, much worn by both men and women in the 1700's. <DD><B> 2. </B>a garment of this fabric. <BR> <I>Ex. The paduasoy ... was being made into a christening cloak for the baby (Elizabeth Gaskell).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> made of this fabric. </DL>
<A NAME="paean">
<B>paean, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a song of praise, thanksgiving, joy, or triumph. <BR> <I>Ex. Loud paeans chanted through the valley announced the approach of the victors (Herman Melville). He ended with a fervent paean to the country he had served so long (Newsweek).</I> (SYN) hallelujah. <DD><B> 2. </B>(in ancient Greece) a hymn or chant of triumph or thanksgiving to a deity, especially to Apollo or Artemis. Also, <B>pean.</B> </DL>
<B>paella, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a spicy dish consisting of seasoned rice, cooked in oil with saffron, and of lobster or shrimp, scraps of chicken, or of beef and pork, and fresh vegetables. </DL>
<A NAME="paeon">
<B>paeon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (in Greek and Latin verse) a foot of four syllables, one long and three short. The long syllable may come anywhere in the foot. </DL>
<A NAME="paeony">
<B>paeony, </B>noun, pl. <B>-nies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Especially British.) peony. </DL>
