Maw

Word of the Day for Tuesday 11^th February 2014

Maw \maw\, noun:

1. the symbolic or theoretical center of a voracious hunger or appetite of any kind: the ravenous maw of Death.
2. the mouth, throat, or gullet of an animal, especially a carnivorous mammal.
3. a cavernous opening that resembles the open jaws of an animal: the gaping maw of hell.

I will glut the maw of death, until it be satiated with the blood of your remaining friends.
-- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, 1818

The team of seven had been created to browse and graze through all existing writings, and to make a catalog of all that was swept into the team's collective maw.
-- Simon Winchester, The Professor and the Madman, 1998

Maw comes to us from the Old English maga meaning "stomach." Its figurative use first appeared in the late 1300’s.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com