maw

[ maw ]

/ mɔ /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR maw ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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

the crop or craw of a fowl.

the stomach, especially that of an animal.

a cavernous opening that resembles the open jaws of an animal: the gaping maw of hell.

the symbolic or theoretical center of a voracious hunger or appetite of any kind: the ravenous maw of Death.

RELATED WORDS

craw, gullet, crop, jaws

Nearby words

Origin of maw

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

Can be confusedmall maul maw

maw

[ maw ]

/ mɔ /

noun Informal.

mother¹.

Origin of maw

variant of ma

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for maw

Privately, they admit they have to provide the data that feed that maw.
How to Reinvent College Rankings: Show the Data Students Need Most|Steve Cohen|March 24, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The other is that people actually lose skills (even very basic skills) and many of them fall into the maw of depression.
The Federal Government Should Hire the Long-Term Unemployed|Megan McArdle|March 8, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Every time I step onto an airplane, I turn to the right and take a good, hard stare into the maw of the engine.
Barbara Kingsolver: How I Write|Noah Charney|December 5, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Having been caught red-handed with a smoking bong firmly pasted to his maw, the long knives are out for the Olympic hero.
Up in Smoke?|Mike Edison|February 3, 2009|DAILY BEAST

Owing to the peculiar shape of its maw a shark can not bite until it turns over.
Under the Ocean to the South Pole|Roy Rockwood
My maw says Mr. Stagg always was that waythat he hates to let go of anything he once gets in his hands.
Carolyn of the Corners|Ruth Belmore Endicott
The seeds, which are known as maw seeds, are collected at maturity and placed in wooden boxes.
Birds and all Nature Vol VII, No. 3, March 1900|Various
If anything fall out amiss which cannot be smothered, the diurnal hath a help at maw.
Character Writings of the 17th Century|Various
His eyes gleamed like two lamps and he was spitting fire and flame from his maw.
The Chinese Fairy Book|Various

British Dictionary definitions for maw

maw

/ (mɔː) /

noun

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

informal the mouth or stomach of a greedy person

Word Origin for maw

Old English maga; related to Middle Dutch maghe, Old Norse magi

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for maw

maw

Old English maga "stomach" (of men and animals; in Modern English only of animals unless insultingly), from Proto-Germanic *magon "bag, stomach" (cf. Old Frisian maga, Old Norse magi, Danish mave, Middle Dutch maghe, Dutch maag, Old High German mago, German Magen "stomach"), from PIE *mak- "leather bag" (cf. Welsh megin "bellows," Lithuanian makas, Old Church Slavonic mošina "bag, pouch"). Meaning "throat, gullet" is from 1520s. Metaphoric of voracity from late 14c.