jaw English · revision 10668

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=borrowing|attested=1382|origins=fro joe}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /dʒɔː/, US /dʒɑː/, /dʒɔː/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is “a word of difficult etymology” according to the OED.^(Etymonline) It is probably [[bor|fro|joe|t=cheek]] (modern joue),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) which may go back to Gallo-Romance *gauta or a pre-Latin, perhaps Gaulish, word *gabata, cheek,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) though there are phonetic problems.^(Etymonline) The NODE calls it of unknown origin.^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ One of the bones forming the framework of the mouth: 1382 in the OED,^(OED 1989) about 1380 as jowe in Chaucer's House of Fame.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The two sides of a narrow pass or gorge are jaws from 1387,^(OED 1989) and the gripping parts of a tool or machine from the mid-15th century.^(Etymonline) Figuratively, the seizing power of death or defeat (''the jaws of death'') is from the 1560s.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) The verb, to use the jaws, is from 1612,^(Barnhart 1988) to gossip from 1748 in Smollett's Roderick Random, and to scold from 1810;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) the noun, tedious or offensive talk, is 18th-century slang.^(Hoad 1986) ''Jawbone'' is from about 1489.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1382 – a jawbone.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1387 – the sides of a gorge.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1489 – jawbone.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1560s – the jaws of death.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1748 – to gossip.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1810 – to scold.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Either of the two bony structures that frame the [[mouth]] and hold the [[teeth]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The lower part of the face; the line of the jaw.^(AHD)

+ # Either of the two gripping parts of a tool such as a vice.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ # ''the jaws of'': a dangerous situation: ''the jaws of death''.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(informal)'' To talk at length; to chatter.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[jawless]]

+ * [[jawbreaker]]

+ * [[jawfish]]

+ * [[jawlike]]

+ * [[lockjaw]]

+ * [[underjaw]]

+ * [[jawbone]]

+ * [[jaw-dropping]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}