Maw

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /mɔː/
• US IPA: /mÉ”/
• cot-caught IPA: /mÉ‘/
• Homophones: more (non-rhotic accents)
• Rhymes: -ɔː

From Middle English mawe, from Old English maga ("stomach, maw"), from Proto-Germanic *magô ("belly, stomach"), from Proto-Indo-European *mak-, *maks- ("bag, bellows, belly"). Cognate with West Frisian mage, Low German mage, Dutch maag ("stomach, belly"), German Magen ("stomach"), Danish mave, Swedish mage ("stomach, belly"), and also with Welsh megin ("bellows"), Russian мошна (mošná, "pocket, bag"), Lithuanian mãkas ("purse").

Full definition of maw

Noun

1. (archaic) the stomach, especially of an animal
• 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book XSo Death shall be deceav'd his glut, and with us two
  Be forc'd to satisfie his Rav'nous Maw.
2. the upper digestive tract (where food enters the body), especially the mouth and jaws of a ravenous creature.
• 1818, John Keats, EndymionTo save poor lambkins from the eagle's maw
3. any great, insatiable or perilous opening.
4. Appetite; inclination.
• Beaumont and FletcherUnless you had more maw to do me good.

By shortening of mother

Noun

1. (dialect, colloquial) Mother.

See mew ("a gull").

Noun

1. A gull.

Anagrams

• awm