maw

- 7 dictionary results

maw

1 [maw]

–noun

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

2.	the crop or craw of a fowl.

3.	the stomach, esp. 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.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME mawe, OE maga; c. D maag, G Magen, ON magi

maw

2 [maw]

–noun Informal.

mother.

Origin:
var. of ma

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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maw (mô)

The mouth, stomach, jaws, or gullet of a voracious animal, especially a carnivore.
The opening into something felt to be insatiable: "I saw the opening maw of hell" (Herman Melville).

[Middle English mawe, from Old English maga.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Maw

Maw\ (m[add]), n. [See Mew a gull.] (Zo["o]l.) A gull.

Maw

Maw\, n. [OE. mawe, AS. maga stomach; akin to D. maag, OHG. mago, G. magen, Icel. magi, Sw. mage, Dan. mave. [root]103.]

1. A stomach; the receptacle into which food is taken by swallowing; in birds, the craw; -- now used only of the lower animals, exept humorously or in contempt. --Chaucer.

Bellies and maws of living creatures. --Bacon.

2. Appetite; inclination. [Obs.]

Unless you had more maw to do me good. --Beau. & Fl.

Fish maw. (Zo["o]l.) See under Fish.

Maw

Maw\, n. An old game at cards. --Sir A. Weldon.

maw

O.E. maga "stomach" (of men and animals), from P.Gmc. *magon (cf. O.Fris. maga, O.N. mag, Du. maag, Ger. Magen "stomach"), perhaps cognate with Welsh megin "bellows," Lith. makas, O.C.S. mosina "bag, pouch."

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