ˈpad-foot dial.
[f. pad v.1 (n.1) + foot n.]
1. A dialectal equivalent of footpad.
| 1847 Tom Treddlehoyle Bairnsla Ann. 41 (E.D.D.) Sitha, Bobby's catch't a padfooit. 1892 J. S. Fletcher When Chas. was King (1896) 209 Here I am, winged in this way by some vile padfoot. |
2. One of the dialect names of the goblin called the barghest. (Chiefly in Yorkshire.)
| 1736 Drake Eboracum i. ii. 58 The Padfoot of Pontfrete, and the Barguest of York. 1828 Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Pad-foot, A Ghost. 1865 Baring-Gould Werewolves viii. 106 The Church-dog, bar-ghast, pad-foit, wash-hound, or by whatever name the animal supposed to haunt a churchyard is designated. 1883 Almondbury & Huddersfield Gloss., Padfoot,..described as being something like a large sheep, or dog; sometimes to have rattled a chain, and been accustomed to accompany persons on their night walks, much as a dog might; keeping by their side, and making a soft noise with its feet—pad, pad, pad—whence its name. It had large eyes as big as ‘tea-plates’. |