declaw

English

Etymology

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *de
Proto-Indo-European *-h₁
Proto-Indo-European *déh₁
Proto-Italic *dē
Latin dē
Latin dē-der.
English de-
English claw
English declaw

    From de- + claw.

    Pronunciation

    • (UK) IPA(key): /diːˈklɔː/
    • Rhymes: -ɔː

    Verb

    declaw (third-person singular simple present declaws, present participle declawing, simple past and past participle declawed)

    1. (transitive, veterinary medicine) To surgically remove the claws of (an animal); to perform onychectomy on.
      • 2025 October 20, Kai Arellano, “New California law prohibits declawing cats”, in CapRadio‎[1], archived from the original on 25 October 2025:
        On Oct. 9, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that bans cats from being declawed statewide. Veterinarians can no longer declaw cats even if an owner wants the procedure to be done.
    2. (transitive, figuratively) To make harmless; to remove the power, authority, or force from.
      The acerbic comedy has been declawed by the demands of network TV.
      • 2016 January 25, “Why Arabs would regret a toothless Chinese dragon”, in The National‎[2], archived from the original on 10 July 2024, retrieved 25 January 2016:
        If, when the moment arrives, China is unwilling to side with its allies, the Arabs will rapidly find a declawed Chinese dragon unwelcome.

    Anagrams

    This page is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.