jaw

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /dʒɔː/, US /dʒɑː/, /dʒɔː/^[1]

Etymology

It is “a word of difficult etymology” according to the OED.^[2] It is probably borrowed from Old French joe (“cheek”) (modern joue),^[3][2][4][5] which may go back to Gallo-Romance *gauta or a pre-Latin, perhaps Gaulish, word *gabata, cheek,^[2][3] though there are phonetic problems.^[2] The NODE calls it of unknown origin.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

One of the bones forming the framework of the mouth: 1382 in the OED,^[7] about 1380 as jowe in Chaucer's House of Fame.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The two sides of a narrow pass or gorge are jaws from 1387,^[7] and the gripping parts of a tool or machine from the mid-15th century.^[2] Figuratively, the seizing power of death or defeat (the jaws of death) is from the 1560s.^[2][7] The verb, to use the jaws, is from 1612,^[3] to gossip from 1748 in Smollett's Roderick Random, and to scold from 1810;^[3][2] the noun, tedious or offensive talk, is 18th-century slang.^[4] Jawbone is from about 1489.^[3]

Timeline

• 1382 – a jawbone.^[7]
• 1387 – the sides of a gorge.^[7]
• c. 1489 – jawbone.^[3]
• 1560s – the jaws of death.^[2]
• 1748 – to gossip.^[3]
• 1810 – to scold.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Either of the two bony structures that frame the mouth and hold the teeth.
2. The lower part of the face; the line of the jaw.
3. Either of the two gripping parts of a tool such as a vice.
4. the jaws of: a dangerous situation: the jaws of death.

Verb

1. (informal) To talk at length; to chatter.

Word family

• jawless
• jawbreaker
• jawfish
• jawlike
• lockjaw
• underjaw
• jawbone
• jaw-dropping

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press