Obs. rare. [Derivation unascertained.] A rootlet, a fiber of a root.
1615. W. Lawson, Country Housew. Gard. (1626), 16. Though they get some hold in the earth with some lesser taw, or tawes, which giue some nourishment to the body of the tree. Ibid., 24. To dresse the roots of trees, to take away the tawes, and tangles, that lap and fret and grow superfluously.
1670. Capt. J. Smith, Eng. Improv. Reviv’d, 58. A Plant by its Roots and Tawes, or Fibres, sucks in the Juice of the Earth.
1765. Museum Rust., V. 117. Its root … is round, and thick set with taws.
