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Webster's 1913 Dictionary

TAWS

Taws, n. Etym: [See Taw to beat. ]

Defn: A leather lash, or other instrument of punishment, used by a schoolmaster. [Written also tawes, tawis, and tawse. ] [Scot. ] Never use the taws when a gloom can do the turn. Ramsay.

New American Oxford Dictionary

tawse

tawse |tôz tɔz |(also taws ) ▶noun Scottish a thong with a slit end, formerly used in schools for punishing children. ORIGIN early 16th cent. (denoting a whip for driving a spinning top ): apparently the plural of obsolete taw ‘tawed leather, ’ from taw 1 .

Oxford Dictionary

tawse

tawse |tɔːz |(also taws ) ▶noun Scottish a thong with a slit end, formerly used in schools for punishing children. ORIGIN early 16th cent. (denoting a whip for driving a spinning top ): apparently the plural of obsolete taw ‘tawed leather ’, from taw 1 .