From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpaddlepad‧dle1 /ˈpædl/ ●○○ noun 1 
TTW[countable] a short pole that is wide and flat at the end, used for moving a small boat in water → oar2 [singular]DSSDLO British English when you walk for pleasure without shoes or socks in water that is not very deep If it’s not too cold, we can go for a paddle.3 [countable] American EnglishDSO a small round flat bat with a short handle, used for hitting the ball in table tennis a ping-pong paddle4 DFU[countable] a tool like a flat spoon, used for mixing food → dog paddle
TTW[countable] a short pole that is wide and flat at the end, used for moving a small boat in water → oar2 [singular]DSSDLO British English when you walk for pleasure without shoes or socks in water that is not very deep If it’s not too cold, we can go for a paddle.3 [countable] American EnglishDSO a small round flat bat with a short handle, used for hitting the ball in table tennis a ping-pong paddle4 DFU[countable] a tool like a flat spoon, used for mixing food → dog paddleExamples from the Corpus
paddle• Thirty years ago, controlling a student might have meant reaching for a paddle or ejecting a wild child from the classroom.• Sadly, the one on page 17 shows how not to hold a paddle without making any such comment.• Many canoeists will have a style which is influenced by past use of old paddle strokes.• Folks on the right side control the right paddle.• He routinely had us grabbing our ankles to receive his stinging paddle across our butts.• Compare this map with the forward sweep paddle stroke that we teach in the Star tests.• Anyway today we had the scene where Matt had to hit me with the paddle sort of semi-accidentally.paddlepaddle2 verb (paddled, paddling) 1 [intransitive, transitive]TTW to move a small light boat through water, using one or more paddlespaddle along/upstream/towards etc I desperately tried to paddle for the shore. She and her husband paddled a canoe down the Mississippi. → row22 [intransitive] British EnglishDLODSS to walk for pleasure without shoes or socks in water that is not very deep SYN wade American English children paddling in the sea3 [intransitive] to swim with short quick movements The dog was paddling furiously after the ducks.4 [transitive] American English informalPUNISH to hit a child with a piece of wood as a punishment5 → paddle your own canoe→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
paddle• The two hedgehogs stood on the bank and watched as the vole paddled away.• Power surfers are towed behind a jet-ski into massive oceanic swells that move too fast to catch by paddling conventional surfboards.• Still, he paddled his way on to the U.S.• One of my earliest memories is paddling in the sea with my parents.• You just want to tuck the board under your arm, run down the beach, paddle out and have fun.• There was a brief debate over which way we should paddle out.• I watched the market traders paddling their canoes across the lake.• Desmond Fairchild, paddling through the spotlights, his trousers rolled up to his hairy knees, shouted something at her.• They named it Michilimackinac, or Great Turtle, because it resembled a turtle as they paddled toward it in canoes.paddle along/upstream/towards etc• Irvine was caught next day as he paddled along the coast.paddling in the sea• Then some of the younger macaques began paddling in the sea and eventually took the plunge and learned how to swim.Origin paddle1 (1400-1500) Perhaps from Medieval Latin padela, from Latin patella; → PATELLA paddle2 1. (1600-1700) → PADDLE12. (1500-1600) Probably from → PAD21 