dew-claw
(ˈdjuːklɔː)
[App. f. dew n. + claw n.
(Perhaps referring to the fact that while the other claws come in contact with the soil, or press the grass to the ground, this only brushes the dewy surface.)]
1. The rudimentary inner toe or hallux (answering to the great toe in man) sometimes present in dogs.
In Newfoundland dogs, and St. Bernards, it is sometimes abnormally double.
| 1576 Turberv. Venerie 23 Some other haue taken marke by the hynder legges by the dewclawes. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Herigote, dew clawes. 1611 Cotgr., Controngle, the Deaw-claw, or water-claw of dogs. 1690 Lond. Gaz. No. 2548/4 Lost..a little white Spaniel Dog.. with dew Claws upon the hind Feet. c 1785 G. White Let. to D. Barrington in Selborne, The bitch has a dew claw on each hind leg. The dog has none. 1854 E. Mayhew Dogs (1862) 248 The dew-claws, as they are termed, grow high upon the inner side of the leg, nearer to the foot than the elbow. 1884 Sat. Rev. 15 Nov. 626 The monks liked their dogs [St. Bernards] to have these double dew-claws, because they offered more resistance in soft, newly-fallen snow. 1883 W. H. Flower in Encycl. Brit. XV. 438/1 note, In domestic dogs a hallux is frequently developed, though often in a rudimentary condition, the phalanges and claw being suspended loosely in the skin, without direct connection with the other bones of the foot; it is called by dog-fanciers the ‘dew-claw.’ |
2. The false hoof of deer and other ungulates, consisting of two rudimentary toes.
| 1576 Turberv. Venerie 97 The shinne bones large, the dew clawes close in port..An hart to hunt, as any man can seake. 1611 Cotgr., Les gardes d'un sanglier, the deawclawes or hinder-clawes of a wild Bore. 1630 [see abature]. 1678 Phillips, Dew-claw, among Hunters the Bones or little Nails behind the Foot of the Deer. |
Hence dew-clawed, † ˈdew-cleyd a., having dew-claws. (Formerly applied sometimes to the feet of bees.)
| 1576 Turberv. Venerie 8 Those whiche are well ioynted and dewclawed are best to make bloudhoundes. 1609 C. Butler Fem. Mon. i. (1634) 8 Her rough and dew-claw'd feet, apt to take hold at the first touch, are in number six. 1611 Cotgr., Ergoté..hauing spurres; deaw-clawed. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 679 Round feete, strong cleys, high dewcleyd. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 11 note, By Brownists I mean not Independents, but dew clawd Seperatists. 1657 S. Purchas Pol. Flying Ins. i. iii. 7 Her feet are six, dew-clawed..full of joynts. 1818 Keats Endym. iv. 685 Sorrel untorn by the dew-claw'd stag. |