English

Verb

jawn ‎(third-person singular simple present jawns, present participle jawning, simple past and past participle jawned)

1. Obsolete form of yawn.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Marston to this entry?)

Etymology 2

Noun

jawn ‎(plural jawns)

1. (slang, chiefly Philadelphia) Something; any object, place or thing.

   Check out this jawn.

   • 2001, Steve Jackson, "Takin it back B/W BEEF", rec.music.hip-hop :

     "Then I started thinking of the Scenario remix and was like yo, that jawn was just as good."

   • 2007 September 23, Jessica Pressler, "The Bar Car is Rocking" in New York Times :

     "Just back from a tour in Australia, he was sitting at a table in the dining car with a group of friends that included members of the hip-hop groups Spank Rock and Plastic Little. 'This,' he said, 'is the jawn.'"

   • 2013 August 20, MK Asante, Buck: A Memoir (Spiegel & Grau) :

     "Jawn can mean anything—person, place, or thing. Sometimes if we’re telling a story and don’t want people to know what we’re talking about, we’ll plug jawn in for everything. The other day I was at the jawn around the corner with the young jawn from down the street. We get to the jawn, right, and the ngh at the door is all on his jawn, not knowing I had that jawn on me. Man, it was about to be on in that jawn."

2. (slang) A woman.

   Yo, you see that jawn, she bad as ****.

   • 1999 July 16, “da One and Only Jazzman”, “Re: RapCity: UnderHouston”, rec.music.hip-hop, Usenet,

     MY boi in NY, when he first came to Philly, used to tell me the philly jawns were easy.

   • 2005, Krystle J. Nutter, Turned Out, iUniverse, ISBN 0-595-36207-9, page 1,

     I had a few chicks that I messed around with but this one main jawn stuck out in particular.

   • 2006, G. D. McCrary, Guerrillas in the Midst, Papyrus & Pen Publishing, ISBN 0977068714, page 39,

     “Who? The jawn sittin’ in the truck wit’ choo? I think I know her.”

   • 2009, Asher Roth, I Love College,

     “When it comes to condoms, put two on, and tomorrow night, find a new jawn.”

See also

• shawty