clawful

plural clawfuls · plural clawsful

1. As much as is held in one's claws or (expressively) in one's hand.

   He seized a clawful of rubble and hurled it up the shaft.

   2010 [1973], Cormac McCarthy, Child of God, →ISBN, page 180

   2 more examples

   [The owls] made sly grips at my breast feathers, and carried off whole clawsful […]

   1866, James Greenwood, Reminiscences of a Raven, page 117

   But our little savage had thrown himself flat on his back with his talons up, and when the rooster charged upon him he struck them into the old fellow's breast, taking out two big clawfuls of feathers.

   1870, C. A. Stephens, “Our Young Hawks”, in Our Young Folks: An Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls, volume VI, page 699