maw

¹ American  

[maw] / mɔ /

noun

1. the mouth, throat, or gullet of an animal, especially a carnivorous mammal.

2. the crop or craw of a fowl.

3. the stomach, especially that of an animal.

4. a cavernous opening that resembles the open jaws of an animal.

   the gaping maw of hell.

5. the symbolic or theoretical center of a voracious hunger or appetite of any kind.

   the ravenous maw of Death.

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maw ² American  

[maw] / mɔ /

noun

Informal.

1. mother.

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maw British  

/ mɔː /

noun

1. the mouth, throat, crop, or stomach of an animal, esp of a voracious animal

2. informal the mouth or stomach of a greedy person

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Etymology

Origin of maw¹

before 900; Middle English mawe, Old English maga; cognate with Dutch maag, German Magen, Old Norse magi

Origin of maw²

Variant of ma

Explanation

If you're staring into the maw of a wild animal you should probably think about running away as fast as you can. A maw, you see, is an informal term for a mouth. There's something ravenous as well as ferocious about the term maw, and in fact it comes from the Old English word maga meaning "stomach." Occasionally you may find it applied to human rather than animal usage, especially when implying comical greed, as in "he was stuffing cupcakes down his maw as fast as he could." Other colloquial terms for mouth, such as piehole, gob and trap tend to suggest a tone more amused than fearful.

Example Sentences

Authors were reportedly given no notice and their royalties were measly in turn; Bloomberg quoted one anonymous Taylor & Francis author who claimed to earn only $97 for ceding their book to the training maw.

From Slate • Nov. 3, 2025

Some ingredients commonly found in Chinese fine dining include qi-boosting gelatinous fish maw, collagen-rich bird’s nest and nutrient-dense sea cucumber.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 18, 2025

Moments later, it emerged as a landscape denuded of all color save brown and gray and the occasional red-rimmed maw of a destroyed brick rooftop.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 14, 2025

When the black hole sucks all that light-producing plasma toward its cosmically horrific maw, the magnetic field around the black hole whips the unpolarized plasma-light chaos into a tight and orderly rhythm, polarizing it.

From Salon • Mar. 28, 2024

I force myself forward, trying to ignore the maw of grasping air at my back.

From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir