Meaning

(archaic) Dejected, dispirited..

Definitions by Sense

1. (archaic) Dejected, dispirited.
2. (obsolete) Having a "fallen" or locked jaw (and hence sometimes unable to speak), variously attributed to dejection (the previous sense) or lockjaw.

Example Sentences

He was pitifully jawfallen. As the guards jogged him out of the room he waved me a farewell.

Every man hath heard the tale of the Picard, who being upon the ladder ready to be thrown down, there was a wench presented unto him, with this offer […] that if he would marry her, his life should be saved, [...and] a man of Denmark, who being adjudged to have his head cut off, and being upon the scaffold, had the like condition offered him, but refused it, because the wench offered him was jawfallen, long-cheeked, and sharp-nosed.

Headmouldshot and Mouldfallen — 34 Jawfallen — 2 Jaundies — 76

Legion is a yelping Cur, he only made a noise behind their Backs, but durst not look them in the Face. Indeed then he did make a slip, or broke his Halter, but now he's Chain'd or Jawfallen, for I han't heard of him never since.

[Causes of death recorded in London included] tympany (drumlike gas-caused abdominal swelling), bleach or scald (skin diseases), an evil complexion of humours by eating of rawe fruite, jawfallen (lockjaw), chincowgh (whooping cough), and strangullion (urinary retention). but contrast Julia Bamford, Silvia Cavalieri, Giuliana Diani, Variation and Change in Spoken and Written Discourse (2016), page 206, which says "popular names used to refer to common or rare diseases were rather obscure: rising of the lights (croup), jawfaln (depression) and King's evil (scrofula, commonly believed to be cured by the touch of the king)."

Word Forms

• more jawfallen
• most jawfallen

Synonyms for jaw fallen

Related Words

When Should You Use Jaw fallen?

Use jaw fallen when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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