maw


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maw

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

[Middle English mawe, from Old English maga.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

maw

(mɔː)
n
1. (Zoology) the mouth, throat, crop, or stomach of an animal, esp of a voracious animal
2. informal the mouth or stomach of a greedy person
[Old English maga; related to Middle Dutch maghe, Old Norse magi]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

maw

(mɔ)

n.
1. the mouth, throat, or stomach, esp. of a voracious carnivore.
2. the crop or craw of a fowl.
3. something that suggests a maw.
[before 900; Middle English mawe, Old English maga, c. Old High German mago, Old Norse magi]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.maw - informal terms for the mouthmaw - informal terms for the mouth  
mouth, oral cavity, oral fissure, rima oris - the opening through which food is taken in and vocalizations emerge; "he stuffed his mouth with candy"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

maw

noun mouth, crop, throat, jaws, gullet, craw embed the hook in the shark's gaping maw
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
Translations

maw

[mɔː] N
1. (Anat) → estómago m; [of cow etc] → cuajar m; [of bird] → molleja f, buche m
2. (fig) → fauces fpl
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

maw

n
(Anat) → Magen m; (of cow)(Lab-)magen m; (of bird)Hals m
(liter)Maul nt; (fig)Rachen m, → Schlund m
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
References in classic literature ?
Thou saw'st the murdered mate when tossed by pirates from the midnight deck; for hours he fell into the deeper midnight of the insatiate maw; and his murderers still sailed on unharmed --while swift lightnings shivered the neighboring ship that would have borne a righteous husband to outstretched, longing arms.
Maw. He assures them that their last sample is impure and quite useless for his present purpose.
Ovid tells us of a flower into which Hyacinthus was metamorphosed, that bears letters on its leaves, which Virgil recommended as a miracle to the Royal Society of his day; but no age nor nation hath ever recorded a bird with a letter in its maw.
The first face which appeared at the aperture, with eyelids turned up to the reds, a mouth open like a maw, and a brow wrinkled like our hussar boots of the Empire, evoked such an inextinguishable peal of laughter that Homer would have taken all these louts for gods.
It had been swallowed up in China's cavernous maw, that was all.
O King, thy willful temper ails the State, For all our shrines and altars are profaned By what has filled the maw of dogs and crows, The flesh of Oedipus' unburied son.
Standing over the labouring seamen, the young woman breathed a sigh of relief as the last strand of the cable parted and she knew that the vessel was on its way out of the maw of the savage Ugambi.
How long she hung there she never knew, but finally a little strength returned to her, and presently she realized that it was a pendant creeper hanging low from a jungle tree upon the bank that had saved her from the river's rapacious maw.
I never saw it, I never peered over the edge of the nest to see; but I KNEW and feared that space that lurked just beneath me and that ever threatened me like a maw of some all-devouring monster.
It was their belief that if ever they weakened, the great beast would ingulf them and everything of beauty and wonder and joy and good in its cavernous and slime-dripping maw. Without them, anarchy would reign and humanity would drop backward into the primitive night out of which it had so painfully emerged.
If you will comply with my conditions, I will leave them and you at peace; but if you refuse, I will glut the maw of death, until it be satiated with the blood of your remaining friends."
He'd open his eyes, that boy would, if he knew how empty of learning my young maw was, at his time of life.' Which, by the by, he probably did know, for he had heard of it often enough.