Meanings
plural overjaws · alternative over jaw
- rareThe upper jaw (superior maxillary).
And when they eat, they move the overjaw and nought the nether jaw, and they have no tongue.
1926, Arthur Percival Newton, Travel and Travellers of the Middle Ages, page 1612 more examples
The King was now represented with a receding forehead, a lined and haggard face, a long nose, thick lips, slanting eyes, a hanging overjaw, and hollow cheeks.
1993, The S S E A Journal, volume 23, page 66He drove her over the Hayward Fault, its boundaries jammed together like an overjaw clenched to an underjaw.
2022, Sharon Olds, Balladz, page 143
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Middle Englishoverjowe
- Englishoverjaw
From Middle English overjowe, over jawe, a partial calque of earlier Middle English over chavel (“upper jaw”), equivalent to over- + jaw.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
overjaw. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overjaw
“overjaw.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overjaw. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “overjaw,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overjaw.
Source: overjaw on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.