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Webster 1913 Edition
Maw
Maw
,Noun.
[OE.
mawe
, AS. maga
stomach; akin to D. maag
, OHG. mago
, G. magen
, Icel. magi
, Sw. mage
, Dan. mave
. √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.
Maw
,Noun.
An old game at cards.
Sir A. Weldon.
Webster 1828 Edition
Maw
MAW
, n.1.
The stomach of brutes; applied to the stomach of human beings in contempt only.2.
The craw of fowls.Definition 2024
maw
maw
English
Noun
maw (plural maws)
- (archaic) the stomach, especially of an animal
- 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book X
- So Death shall be deceav'd his glut, and with us two / Be forc'd to satisfie his Rav'nous Maw.
- 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book X
- the upper digestive tract (where food enters the body), especially the mouth and jaws of a fearsome and ravenous creature.
- 1818, John Keats, Endymion
- To save poor lambkins from the eagle's maw
- 1818, John Keats, Endymion
- any great, insatiable or perilous opening.
- Appetite; inclination.
- Beaumont and Fletcher
- Unless you had more maw to do me good.
- Beaumont and Fletcher
Translations
stomach
upper digestive tract
any great, insatiable or perilous opening
Etymology 2
By shortening of mother
Noun
maw (plural maws)
- (dialect, colloquial) Mother.
Etymology 3
See mew (“a gull”).
Noun
maw (plural maws)
- A gull.