Word.ws English Dictionary

jaw

UK/d͡ʒɔː/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/d͡ʒoː/

jaw noun: one of the bones, usually bearing teeth, which form the framework of the mouth.

Noun (1)

jaw (plural jaws)

  1. One of the bones, usually bearing teeth, which form the framework of the mouth.
  2. The part of the face below the mouth.
    • His jaw dropped in amazement.
    • I'm up and jaws are on the floor
      Lovers in the bathroom and a line outside the door2020 April 3, Chappell Roan, Dan Nigro, “Pink Pony Club”performed by Chappell Roan
  3. (especially, figuratively, in plural) Anything resembling the jaw (sense 1) of an animal in form or action; the mouth or way of entrance.
    • the jaws of a pass; the jaws of darkness; the jaws of death.
  4. A notch or opening.
  5. A notched or forked part, adapted for holding an object in place.
    • the jaw of a railway-car pedestal.
  6. One of a pair of opposing parts which are movable towards or from each other, for grasping or crushing anything between them.
    • the jaws of a vise; the jaws of a stone-crushing machine.
  7. The inner end of a boom or gaff, hollowed in a half circle so as to move freely on a mast.
  8. (dated, slang) Impudent, abusive, or worthless talk.
    • Give me the boy, now, and no more of your jaw. I am going to take the boy home with me.1869, Henry Kingsley, Silcote of Silcotes
    • "A lot you care," said Digory fiercely. "But I'm sick of this jaw. What have I got to do?"1955, C[live] S[taples] Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew, London: The Bodley Head, →OCLC
  9. (slang) An axle guard.
  10. The curved part of the cushion marking the entry to the pocket.

Verb (1)

jaw (third-person singular simple present jaws, present participle jawing, simple past and past participle jawed)

  1. (transitive) To assail or abuse by scolding.
    • He built the Summit, so as to have no neighbours. And Lady Warren couldn't abide It. She was always jawing him about it, and they had one awful quarrel, in his study.1933, Ethel Lina White, The Spiral Staircase (Some Must Watch), Chapter 4, http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300931.txt
  2. (intransitive) To scold; to clamor.
    • […] he waked him, which put him in a main high passion, and he swore woundily at the lieutenant, and called him lousy Scotch son of a whore […], and swab, and lubber, whereby the lieutenant returned the salute, and they jawed together fore and aft a good spell, till at last the captain turned out...1748, Tobias Smollett, chapter 24, in The Adventures of Roderick Random
  3. (informal, intransitive) To talk; to converse.
    • Today the beastly boat is level at last and the sun’s out and we have all been jawing about what to do.1952, C. S. Lewis, chapter 5, in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Collins, published 1998
  4. (intransitive, transitive) (of a ball) To stick in the jaws of a pocket.

Verb (2)

jaw (third-person singular simple present jaws, present participle jawing, simple past and past participle jawed)

  1. (Scotland, transitive) To pour or throw out.
    • Bletherum bore her to the vestry, Jaw'd some water in her face; […]1863, James Nicholson, Kilwuddie and other poems, page 80
    • Nae need to jaw watter on a droun'd moose.1896, Peter Hay Hunter, James Inwick: Ploughman and Elder, page 145
  2. (Scotland, transitive) To splash; to surge.
    • 'Twas freezin', thowin', rainin', snawin', In souple turns; While sheughs an' deep fur-drains were jawin' To spate the burns.1877, Walter Watson, The Poems and Songs of Walter Watson, page 100
    • ... a burn "whiles jawin' like a sea."1879, David Gilmour, Reminiscences of the Pen' Folk: Paisley Weavers of Other Days, Etc, page 52

Noun (2)

jaw (plural jaws)

  1. (Northern England, Scotland) A wave, a billow, a breaker.
    • Upo' the briny Borean jaws to float,1815, Robert Fergusson, The Poems of Robert Fergusson: in Two Parts. To which is Prefixed, the Life of the Author, and a Sketch of His Writings; with a Copious Glossary Annexed, page 269
    • ... a craft […] That, like the white sea-mew, jinket the jaws On the briny breist o' the main.1880, James E. Watt, Poetical Sketches of Scottish Life and Character, page 20
  2. (Northern England, Scotland) A dash or spurt of water; any large quantity of water or other liquid.
    • But sweetly bends the reamin' bicker, To drown dull care in jaws o' liquor.1813, Ebenezer Picken, Miscellaneous Poems, Songs, &c., Partly in the Scottish Dialect: With a Glossary, page 80
    • The nauseous mixture fell, When full in play; Wi' jaws upon the sprawling hash, […]1817 [1685?], Robert Brown, Comic Poems of the Years 1685, and 1793: On Rustic Scenes in Scotland, at the Times to which They Refer : with Explanatory and Illustrative Notes, page 62

jaw meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

jaw in Hindi

bone holding the teeth
जबड़ा jabṛā

jaw in Tamil

தாடை

jaw in Marathi

jaw
जबडा jabḍā

jaw in Urdu

bone holding the teeth
جبڑا jabṛā
More languagesFewer languages
jaw in Bengali
চোয়াল cōẇal
jaw in Telugu
హనువు hanuvu
jaw in Malayalam
ചെന്നം cennaṁ
jaw in Kannada
ಅವುಡು, ದವಡೆ
jaw in Punjabi
ਵਰਾਛ varāch
jaw in Sanskrit
हनु hánu
jaw in Pashto
زامه zãma
jaw in Tagalog
panga
jaw in Arabic
فَكّ fakk
jaw in Malay
rahang
jaw in Indonesian
rahang
jaw in Persian
آرواره ârvâre, فک fakk, زفر zafar
jaw in Thai
คาง kaang, ขากรรไกร kǎa-gan-grai, กราม graam
jaw in Vietnamese
hàm, quai hàm, xương hàm
jaw in Myanmar
ပါးချိတ်ရိုး pa:hkyitrui:, မေး me:, ပါးသွယ် pa:swai

Examples of jaw in a sentence

  • ... stately tower, […] Whilk proud defies the jawing wave, Built on a rock[…]1885, Francis James Child, George Lyman Kittredge, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, page 223:
  • ... ugly , ugly were the jaws That rowd unto their knee.1882, Francis James Child, George Lyman Kittredge, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, page 21:
  • Scores o' our sturdiest farmers fail / To jouk the jaw, / An' broken-hearted[…]1892, James Lumsden, Samuel Mucklebackit, Sheep-head and Trotters: Being Savoury Selections, Poetic and Prosaic, from the Bulky Literary...
  • But Fisher - Willie and the lairds […] wash't their gebbies and their beards In sparklin' jaws o' claret.1827, William Tennant, Papistry Storm'd: Or, The Dingin' Down O' the Cathedral : Ane Poem, in Sax Sangs, page 84:

All 40 example sentences with jaw

Synonyms of jaw

1 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of jaw

Forms of jaw

Noun
pluraljaws
Verb
third-person singular presentjaws
present participlejawing
past participlejawed
pastjawed

Past tense of jaw: jawed

Plural of jaw: jaws

Origin of jaw

From Middle English jawe/jowe (“jaw; sides of the lower face”, 14th century), the further origin of which is disputed. Either: * From Anglo-Norman jowe, from Old French joe (“cheek; jaw”), from Vulgar Latin *ga(v)ota (“cheek”), of uncertain further origin. ** It has been objected that the rhyming of jowe (“jaw”) with clowe (“claw”) in Middle English demonstrates that it did not have the vowel /uː/. This would be a concern if /uː/ were the vowel to expect from a borrowing of the Old French word, which it is not. Compare English paw < Middle English pawe/powe < Anglo-Norman powe < Old French poe. * From Middle English *chowe, from Old English *ċēowe. The main difficulties with this theory are the notable lack of evidence and the late attestation of chaw (early 16th century). If it is correct, then the further origin would be Proto-West Germanic *keuwā (“jaw”), whence Saterland Frisian Kiuwe, Dutch kieuw, German Keu, Käu. For the initial consonant, compare jowl as a variant of chavel/chawl. It is also conceivable that the word is a merger of two coincidentally similar sources. Gradually displaced Middle English chavel (from Old English ċeafl).

Uncertain. Attested since 1513 (as a verb and noun) in Scots. The DSL speculates that it might be related to Scots (and Northern English dialectal) jall, joll "knock, bump; toll (a bell)" via the notion of knocking "one thing against another, as waves on a rock". The EDD compares Old Norse jaga (“move to and fro”).

Words formed from jaw

Phrases with jaw

16 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with jaw

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about jaw

What does jaw mean?
Jaw means one of the bones, usually bearing teeth, which form the framework of the mouth.
What is jaw in Hindi?
Jaw in Hindi is जबड़ा (jabṛā). See Jaw meaning in Hindi.
How do you use jaw in a sentence?
... stately tower, […] Whilk proud defies the jawing wave, Built on a rock[…]
What part of speech is jaw?
Jaw can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce jaw?
Jaw is pronounced /d͡ʒɔː/ (UK).
What is the plural of jaw?
The plural of jaw is jaws.

Words near jaw in the dictionary

  1. Javier
  2. Javion
  3. javitri
  4. Javon
  5. Javonte
  6. jaw
  7. jaw away
  8. jaw ball
  9. jaw beard
  10. jaw beards
  11. jaw bone

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: jaw (page history and authors); jaw (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); जबडा (Marathi) (page history and authors); హనువు (Telugu) (page history and authors); ചെന്നം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); jaw (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਵਰਾਛ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); हनु (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-jaw.ogg.

Cite this entry: “jaw.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/jaw. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.