maw en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /mɔ/ (General-American)
- (Southern-England) audio
- /mɔː/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /mɑ/ (cot-caught-merger)
Etymology
From Middle English mawe, maghe, maȝe, from Old English maga (“stomach; maw”), from Proto-West Germanic *magō, from Proto-Germanic *magô (“belly; stomach”), from Proto-Indo-European *mak-, *maks- (“bag, bellows, belly”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian mage, Dutch maag (“stomach; belly”), German Low German Maag, German Magen (“stomach”), Danish mave, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish mage (“stomach; belly”), and also with Welsh megin (“bellows”), archaic Russian мошна́ (mošná, “pocket, bag”), Lithuanian mãkas (“purse”), Finnish maha (“stomach”), Estonian magu (“stomach”).
Meanings
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(countable, uncountable) The upper digestive tract (where food enters the body), especially the mouth and jaws of an animal.
“I saw the opening maw of hell, With endless pains and sorrows there; Which none but they that feel can tell— Oh, I was plunging to despair.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 9, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:To save poor lambkins from the eagle's maw
1818, John Keats, “(please specify the page)”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] T[homas] Miller, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC:
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(countable, slang, uncountable) The upper digestive tract (where food enters the body), especially the mouth and jaws of an animal. ▸ The mouth and jaws of a furry.
[…] / As you lift your shirt I'm closer / grab me by the maw into your arm- // […] / Sniff it with my maw I / […] / Smelling all of you its / […] / Getting me hard gimme more / […] / more more
2025 February 14, Pent Up Puppy, “PITS”, in FURFAG, archived from the original on 23 Feb 2025:
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(countable, derogatory, slang, uncountable) The mouth.
Shut your maw!
She fumbled with her bag, and produced from its little maw a scented handkerchief.
1920, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “The Escape”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 273:
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(countable, figuratively, uncountable) Any large, insatiable or perilous opening.
One two! I was born in a cross-fire hurricane. And I howled at the maw in the drivin' rain. But it's all right now, in fact, it's a gas. But it's all right. I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash. It's a gas, gas, gas.
2011 October 11, “Jumping Jack Flash (Live 1973)” (track 14), in Brussels Affair (Live 1973), performed by The Rolling Stones:Adam requires a touch of feminine lace and a whisper of diaphanous silk, not a direct vision of the gaping maw of the human vulva.
1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 23:
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(obsolete, uncountable) Appetite; inclination.
Unless you had more maw to do me good.
1607 (first performance), Francis Beaumont, “The Knight of the Burning Pestle”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, Act I, scene i:
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(countable, uncountable) The swim bladder of a fish, especially when used as food in Chinese cuisine.
fish maw: The buoyancy bladder of a fish similar in appearance to the mammalian lung. The maw of the conger pike is used in Chinese cooking and is usually sold in dried form which needs reconstituting for about 3 hours and treating with[…]
1998, Charles Gordon Sinclair, International Dictionary of Food and Cooking, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 203:Fish maw (swim bladder) is easily obtainable from your local fishmonger[.]
2010 08, Eddie Dowd, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Fertility Treatment, Paragon Publishing, →ISBN, page 150:Fish maw is the commercial term for the dried swim bladders of large fish like sturgeon. Fish maw has no fishy taste and absorbs the flavors of other ingredients.
2009 April 28, Teresa M. Chen, A Tradition of Soup: Flavors from China's Pearl River Delta, North Atlantic Books, →ISBN, page 70:[...] fish maw is light, white in color, and has a spongy texture. Dried fish maw is tasteless which makes it a good complementary addition to many dishes since it can absorb the flavors of other ingredients when it is cooked with other food[…]
2020 May 12, K. Gopakumar, Balagopal Gopakumar, Health Foods from Ocean Animals, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 172:
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(archaic, countable, uncountable) The stomach, especially of an animal.
So Death shall be deceav'd his glut, and with us two / Be forc'd to satisfie his Rav'nous Maw.
1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| maws | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
maw-worm · maw-gut · hog maw · mawed
Synonyms
Translations (23)
it fauci (upper digestive tract) · cs tlama (upper digestive tract) · cs chřtán (an insatiable or perilous opening) · sv gap (an insatiable or perilous opening) · cs tlama (an insatiable or perilous opening) · es fauces (upper digestive tract) · fi kita (upper digestive tract) · cs chřtán (upper digestive tract) · bg паст (upper digestive tract) · tl butse (upper digestive tract) · cs jícen (an insatiable or perilous opening) · cs jícen (upper digestive tract) · sv gap (upper digestive tract) · pt goela (upper digestive tract) · eo faŭko (an insatiable or perilous opening) · hy երախ (upper digestive tract) · gd sgròban (upper digestive tract) · ru пасть (upper digestive tract) · de Schlund (upper digestive tract) · de Schlund (an insatiable or perilous opening) · de Rachen (upper digestive tract) · sh ždrijelo (an insatiable or perilous opening) · fr gueule (upper digestive tract)