jaw

Meaning

1. One of the bones, usually bearing teeth, which form the framework of the mouth.
2. The part of the face below the mouth.
3. Anything resembling the jaw of an animal in form or action; especially plural, the mouth or way of entrance.
4. A notch or opening.
5. A notched or forked part, adapted for holding an object in place.
6. One of a pair of opposing parts which are movable towards or from each other, for grasping or crushing anything between them.
7. The inner end of a boom or gaff, hollowed in a half circle so as to move freely on a mast.
8. (slang) Impudent, abusive or worthless talk.
9. (slang) Axle guard.
10. The curved part of the cushion marking the entry to the pocket.

chin

rattle on

yap away

yack away

cheek bone

toe-nail

mandibula

chucking fixture

clamping jaw

grip pawl

axle guard

chide smb.

jack catch

clevice

holding jaw

animal mouth

belabour

clapperclaw

gripping device

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/d͡ʒɔː/

From Middle English jowe~joue~jaue, seemingly borrowed from Old French jowe~joue~joe, itself from Vulgar Latin *gauta. The OED argues that, since Chaucer rhymed jowe with clowe (“claw”), the tonic vowel was not /uː/ and so jowe does not correspond to the French word. (On the other hand, it raises no such objection against the derivation of paw from Old French powe~poue~poe, from *pauta.) It is not clear that Middle English ever borrowed an Old French word in which /ɔw/ had already turned to /u/. If the normal modern English outcome is taken to be the /əʊ/ of clove, escrow, hoe, mow, and soldier (implying a Middle English /ɔw/), then the /ɔː/ of jaw and paw (implying a Middle English /aw/) may be explained as the result of either borrowing from Middle English dialects that merged /ɔw/ into /aw/ or blending with semantically adjacent words like chaule (“jaw”) and clawe (“claw”). The OED, with reluctance, offers the theory that the original Middle English form could have been an unattested *chowe, from an also-unattested Old English *ċēowe (from Proto-West Germanic *keuwā). /t͡ʃ-/ > /d͡ʒ-/ is not unheard-of; cf. jam, jar, jarm, jitter, and jowl. The OED also note that a variant chaw is in fact documented in English, but only from 1530 onward, some 150 years after the j- forms.

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