Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Taws \Taws\, n. [See {Taw} to beat.]
   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.