paddle (1) — ODE

paddle1 /ˈpadl

▸ noun

1 a short pole with a broad blade at one or both ends, used without a rowlock to move a small boat or canoe through the water:

we dug in deep with our paddles

[as modifier] paddle strokes.

▪ an act of paddling a boat:

a gentle paddle on sluggish water.

▪ a paddle-shaped instrument used for mixing food, or stirring or mixing in industrial processes.

▪ North American English a short-handled bat used in table tennis.

▪ North American English informal a paddle-shaped instrument used to administer corporal punishment.

▪ each of the boards fitted round the circumference of a paddle wheel or mill wheel.

▪ the fin or flipper of an aquatic mammal or bird.

2 a flat array of solar cells projecting from a spacecraft.

3 Medicine a plastic-covered electrode used in cardiac stimulation.

▸ verb

1 [no object, with adverbial of direction] move through the water in a boat using a paddle or paddles:

she paddled along the coast

[with object] he was teaching trainees to paddle canoes.

▪ [with object] propel a boat along (a stretch of water) using paddles:

a legal right to paddle Scottish rivers.

▪ (of bird or other animal) swim with short fast strokes:

the swan paddled away.

2 [with object] informal mainly North American English beat (someone) with a paddle as a punishment:

ask the mother if she minds the offspring getting paddled from time to time.

– PHRASES

paddle one's own canoe informal
be independent and self-sufficient:

she plunged into work, she'd got to paddle her own canoe.

– DERIVATIVES

paddler noun

– ORIGIN late Middle English (denoting a small spade-like implement): of unknown origin. Current senses date from the 17th century.