maw

[maw]

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.

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]

noun Informal.

mother¹.

Origin of maw

variant of ma

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

Related Words for maw

craw, gullet, crop, jaws

Examples from the Web for maw

Contemporary Examples of 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
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
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
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

Historical Examples of maw

His eyes gleamed like two lamps and he was spitting fire and flame from his maw.
The Chinese Fairy Book
Various
Let them boil gently till the liquor is reduced to three pints, and strain it off; when only milk warm, pour it on the maw.
The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches,
Mary Eaton
He had come deliberately to thrust his head into the lion's maw that he might save her brother.
Mistress Wilding
Rafael Sabatini
"That'll do, Maw," she said, dismissing her parent with a nod.
Snow-Bound at Eagle's
Bret Harte
Maw allowed you woz talkin' a furrin' tongue all along, but I—sakes alive!
Snow-Bound at Eagle's
Bret Harte

British Dictionary definitions for maw

maw

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

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.