jowl
pronunciation
How to pronounce jowl in British English:
UK [dʒaʊl]
How to pronounce jowl in American English:
US [dʒaʊl]
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- Noun:
- the lower jawbone in vertebrates; it is hinged to open the mouth
- a fullness and looseness of the flesh of the lower cheek and jaw (characteristic of aging)
Word Origin
- jowl
- jowl: English has two words jowl, which are quite close together in meaning but are etymologically unrelated. The older, which means ‘jaw’, goes back ultimately to Old English ceafl. It is now encountered virtually only in the expression ‘cheek by jowl’. Jowl ‘flesh around the throat’ (now usually used in the plural) first appears in the 16th century. It may well be a development of Middle English cholle, which in turn probably goes back to Old English ceole ‘throat’ (a relative of German kehle ‘throat’).
- jowl (n.1)
- "jaw," 1570s, alteration of Middle English chawl (late 14c.), chavel (early 14c.), from Old English ceafl, from Proto-Germanic *kefalaz (cognates: Middle High German kiver, German kiefer, Old Norse kjoptr "jaw," Danish kæft, Flemish kavel, Dutch kevel "gum"), from PIE *gep(h)- "jaw, mouth" (cognates: Old Irish gop, Irish gob "beak, mouth"). The change from ch- to j- has not been explained.
- jowl (n.2)
- "fold of flesh under the jaw," 1590s, alteration of Middle English cholle "fold of flesh hanging from the jaw" (c. 1300), perhaps from Old English ceole "throat," from PIE root *gwele- (3) "to swallow" (see glut (v.)). This word and jowl (n.1) influenced one another in form and sense.
Example
- 1. The houses were jumbled together cheek by jowl .
- 2. Show distorted acres of cheek and jowl .
- 3. Rich and poor were sitting cheek by jowl in the audience .
- 4. We 'll never get through that crowd of people ; they are packed in there cheek and jowl .
- 5. A lot of seeing seem irrelvant thing , connect cheek by jowl actually .