craw

Strictly speaking, a craw is a pouch in a bird's esophagus (the "crop") where food can sit for a while before it moves on to be digested. But in everyday English, most people don't use the word this way often.

Instead, you'll almost exclusively hear it in the idiom "stick in someone's craw." If a rude comment or an unfair decision sticks in your craw, you can't quite "swallow" it—it stays with you, irritating you and making you resentful, like a dry piece of food that won't go down.

Biologically speaking, the craw (also known as a crop) is a sack-like enlargement of a bird's esophagus. It's the pantry where birds store seeds and bugs to soften them up before they head to the stomach. You might read about a "pigeon filling its craw."

In humans, the word is sometimes used informally—and often unpleasantly—to refer to the stomach or throat. If someone says a hungry person is "stuffing their craw," they are painting a picture of animal-like, perhaps gluttonous, eating.

However, the main usage today is figurative. The phrase "stick in one's craw" (or "stick in the craw") comes from the idea of food getting lodged in the throat, causing discomfort. If something sticks in your craw, it annoys you deeply and usually for a long time. For example: "It really sticks in my craw that he got the promotion after working here for only a week."

So whether it's a pigeon storing lunch or a grudge you can't quite swallow, the craw is about things being held back—and hard to get down.