Jowl

Pronunciation

• enPR: joul, IPA: /dÊ’aÊŠl/
• Rhymes: -aÊŠl

Alternative forms

• jole, joll obsolete

From Middle English chawl, chavel ("cheek, jaw"), from Old English ċeafl, from Proto-Germanic *keblą (compare Dutch kevels ("jawbones"), Swiss German Chifel), variant of *kebrą (compare German Kiefer), enlargement of Proto-Germanic *kebą (compare Low German Keve, Keben ("jaw; gill") (pl.), Palatinate German Kife), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵebʰ- (compare Irish gob ("mouth"), Lithuanian žė̃bti ("to chew"), Czech žábra ("gills"), Avestan (zafar, "mouth") ).

Full definition of jowl

Noun

1. the jaw, jawbone; especially one of the lateral parts of the mandible.
• 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4I had lain, therefore, all that time, cheek by jowl with Blackbeard himself, with only a thin shell of tinder wood to keep him from me, and now had thrust my hand into his coffin and plucked away his beard.
2. the cheek; especially the cheek meat of a hog.

Verb

1. (obsolete, transitive) To throw, dash, or knock.
• ShakespeareHow the knave jowls it to the ground.

Middle English cholle ("wattle, jowl"), from Old English ċeole, ċeolu ("throat"), from Proto-Germanic *kelǭ ("gullet") (compare West Frisian kiel, Dutch keel, German Kehle), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelu- ("to swallow") (compare Irish in-gilim ("I graze"), goile ("stomach"), Latin gula ("throat"), gluttīre ("to swallow"), Russian глотать (glotatʹ, "to swallow, gulp"), Greek δέλεαρ (délear, "lure"), Armenian կլանել (klanel, "I swallow"), Persian گلو, Hindi गला (galā, "neck, throat")).

Noun

1. a fold of fatty flesh under the chin, around the cheeks, or lower jaw (as a dewlap, wattle, crop, or double chin).
2. cut of fish including the head and adjacent parts

Derived terms

• jowly
• cheek and jowl
• tooth-to-jowl