maw
n.n. a very large or wide mouth. It is a strong word that people use to describe something that is very big or scary.
n. a large, gaping mouth. Often used metaphorically to describe a vast, insatiable appetite or a wide, threatening opening.
The beast opened its maw to reveal sharp teeth.
The storm clouds opened their maw, releasing a torrent of rain that flooded the valley.
The industrial complex seemed to have an insatiable maw, consuming raw materials at a rate that outpaced the local economy's ability to produce them.
From Middle English mawe, maghe, maȝe, from Old English maga (“stomach; maw”), from Proto-West Germanic magō, from Proto-Germanic magô (“belly; stomach”), from Proto-Indo-European mak-, maks- (“bag, bellows, belly”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian mage, Dutch maag (“stomach; belly”), German Low German Maag, German Magen (“stomach”), Danish mave, Norwegian mage (“stomach”), Swedish mage (“stomach; belly”), and also with Welsh megin (“bellows”), archaic Russian мошна́ (mošná, “pocket, bag”), Lithuanian mãkas (“purse”), Finnish maha (“stomach”), Estonian magu (“stomach”).
Variant of ma.
See mew (“a gull”), Norwegian måke (“a gull”)