English · Slang Historical

oven

Preserved but no longer current.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

A great mouth; the old woman would never have looked for her daughter in the oven, had she not been there herself.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

một miệng lớn; bà lão đã không bao giờ tìm kiếm cô con gái của mình trong lò, nếu bà không có mặt ở đó

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Era: ca. 1811 (Georgian)

Where it’s used: Origin British & Irish English

Sources & notes

Historical definition reproduced from Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1811 edition, public domain; Project Gutenberg #5402, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.

Topics: Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “oven” mean?

A great mouth; the old woman would never have looked for her daughter in the oven, had she not been there herself.

Is “oven” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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