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# maw

«maw» in Mova's school dictionary: **the mouth, jaws or throat of a hungry or fierce animal** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a maw, maws); (Scotland, informal) noun (maw = mum)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A maw is the mouth, jaws or throat of a hungry or fierce animal. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maw/#m1)

2) A maw is anything that seems to swallow things up, like a big dark hole: «the maw of the cave». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maw/#m2)

3) (Scotland, informal) «Maw» means mum or mother; «Paw» is dad. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maw/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In stories and poems, «maw» makes a monster or animal sound scary and greedy: «the dragon's gaping maw». In descriptive writing, it is a strong word for a dark opening. In Scottish speech, a child may call their mum «Maw». Phrases: «gaping maw», «into the maw of».

### examples

- The crocodile opened its huge maw. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maw/#x1)
- The ship sailed into the dark maw of the storm. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maw/#x2)
- The dragon's maw was full of sharp teeth. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maw/#x3)
- The cave's black maw frightened the explorers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maw/#x4)
- «Maw, can I go out to play?» asked the boy in Glasgow. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maw/#x5)
- The whale's maw swallowed the tiny fish. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maw/#x6)
- Now, just as the father pitched his younger son into the sea, a great whale-fish was coming along and swallowed him, and into its maw he went. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maw/#x7)

### note

Countable. Literary in its main sense; in everyday speech people say «mouth» or «jaws». The Scottish «Maw» (mum) is informal and regional. Rhymes with «saw».

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «maw» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/maw/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.