Meanings
nounjaws of death pl (plural only)
- figurativelypluralplural onlypoeticclicheA very narrowly avoided fatal or near-fatal situation.
"And then at last I see him, and behold, my chance is gone but by a hair's breadth even before I have it, for he is in the very jaws of death, whence no power of mine can draw him."
1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 虎口
- 虎口 (hǔkǒu)A narrowly avoided fatal situation
Korean 사지
- 사지 (saji)A narrowly avoided fatal situation
Māori waha o te parata
- waha o te parataA narrowly avoided fatal situation
Cite this entry
APA
jaws of death. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jaws%20of%20death
MLA
“jaws of death.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jaws%20of%20death. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “jaws of death,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jaws%20of%20death.
Source: jaws of death on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.