Meaning

noun the part of the skull of a vertebrate that frames the mouth and holds the teeth

noun the bones of the skull that frame the mouth and serve to open it; the bones that hold the teeth

noun holding device consisting of one or both of the opposing parts of a tool that close to hold an object

originFrom Middle English jawe/jowe (“jaw; sides of the lower face”, 14th century), the further origin of which is disputed. Either: * From Anglo-Norman jowe, from Old French joe (“cheek; jaw”), from Vulgar Latin *ga(v)ota (“cheek”), of uncertain further origin. ** It has been objected that the rhyming of jowe (“jaw”) with clowe (“claw”) in Middle English demonstrates that it did not have the vowel…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0