• (British) IPA: /mɔː/
• (America) IPA: /mɔ/
• (cot-caught) IPA: /mɑ/

maw (plural maws)

1. (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.

2. The upper digestive tract (where food enters the body), especially the mouth and jaws of a fearsome and ravenous creature.
   • 1818, John Keats, Endymion (poem)

     To save poor lambkins from the eagle's maw

3. Any large, insatiable or perilous opening.
4. Appetite; inclination.
   • (Can we date this quote?), Francis Beaumont; John Fletcher, “The Burning Pestle”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: Printed for Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, OCLC 3083972 ↗, Act 1, scene 1:

     Unless you had more maw to do me good.

• German: Magen
• Portuguese: estômago, bucho
• Russian: брю́хо
• Spanish: estómago

• French: gueule
• German: Schlund
• Italian: fauci
• Russian: пасть
• Spanish: fauces

• German: Schlund

maw (plural maws)

1. (dialect, colloquial) Mother.

maw (plural maws)

1. A gull.

maw (plural maws)

1. (informal, derogatory) Model, actress, whatever: a young woman without much talent who attains celebrity through physical attractiveness.
   • 1996, Hester Lacey, She's left her wild-child self behind, learned from her multitude of mistakes and even got a proper job. So why do we hate her? (in The Independent, 19 October 1996)

     Tamara was one of the original wild-child tribe - up to now, famous mainly for being famous. She has done a quantity of high-profile dabbling in modelling, acting, television and journalism (file under MAW - Model, Actress, Whatever - or WAIF - Why Am I Famous?)

   • 2001, Bill Robinson, Ceridwen Morris, It's All Your Fault: How To Make It as a Hollywood Assistant (page 33)

     Next to them, you spot what can only be a director's assistant. He's dressed very casually, jeans and a black T-shirt and he uses his tenuous connection to true Hollywood power to flirt with the most attractive MAWs (Model-Actress-Whatever) […]

   • 2013, B. Hesse Pflingger, Fonko on the Carpet

     Through his Hollywood connections he filled out the ranks of our parties with troops of assorted aspiring starlets, production assistants and thrillseeking party dolls—MAWs (“Model/Actress/Whatever”).

1. Surname