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mouth

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mouth

  [n. mouth; v. mouth] noun, plural mouths  [mouthz] , verb
Use mouth in a Sentence
–noun
1. Anatomy, Zoology.
a. the opening through which an animal or human takes in food.
b. the cavity containing the structures used in mastication.
c. the structures enclosing or being within this cavity, considered as a whole.
2. the masticating and tasting apparatus.
3. a person or animal dependent on someone for sustenance: another mouth to feed.
4. the oral opening or cavity considered as the source of vocal utterance.
5. utterance or expression: to give mouth to one's thoughts.
6. talk, esp. loud, empty, or boastful talk: That man is all mouth.
7. disrespectful talk or language; back talk; impudence.
8. a grimace made with the lips.
9. an opening leading out of or into any cavity or hollow place or thing: the mouth of a cave; a bottle's mouth.
10. the outfall at the lower end of a river or stream, where flowing water is discharged, as into a lake, sea, or ocean: the mouth of the Nile.
11. the opening between the jaws of a vise or the like.
12. the lateral hole of an organ pipe.
13. the lateral blowhole of a flute.
–verb (used with object)
14. to utter in a sonorous or pompous manner, or with excessive mouth movements: to mouth a speech.
15. to form (a word, sound, etc.) with the lips without actually making an utterance: She silently mouthed her answer so as not to wake her napping child.
16. to utter or pronounce softly and indistinctly; mumble: Stop mouthing your words and speak up.
17. to put or take into the mouth, as food.
18. to press, rub, or chew at with the mouth or lips: The dog mouthed the toys.
19. to accustom (a horse) to the use of the bit and bridle.
–verb (used without object)
20. to speak sonorously and oratorically, or with excessive mouth movement.
21. to grimace with the lips.
—Verb phrase
22. mouth off, Slang.
a. to talk back; sass: He mouthed off to his mother.
b. to express one's opinions, objections, or the like in a forceful or uninhibited manner, esp. in public.
—Idioms
23. down in or at the mouth, Informal. dejected; depressed; disheartened: Ever since he lost his job, he has been looking very down in the mouth.
24. run off at the mouth, Informal. to talk incessantly or indiscreetly.
25. talk out of both sides of one's mouth, to make contradictory or untruthful statements.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE mūth; c. G Mund, ON munnr

Related forms:
mouther, noun
mouthless, adjective

Synonyms:
5. voice, speech.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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mouth   (mouth)   


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n.   pl. mouths (mouthz)
    1. The body opening through which an animal takes in food.
    2. The cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on the outside by the lips and inside by the oropharynx and containing in higher vertebrates the tongue, gums, and teeth.
    3. This cavity regarded as the source of sounds and speech.
    4. The opening to any cavity or canal in an organ or a bodily part.
    5. Utterance; voice: gave mouth to her doubts.
    6. A tendency to talk excessively or unwisely.
    7. Impudent or vulgar talk: Watch your mouth.
    8. An opening in the pipe of an organ.
    9. The opening in the mouthpiece of a flute across which the player blows.
  2. The part of the lips visible on the human face.
  3. A person viewed as a consumer of food: has three mouths to feed at home.
  4. A pout, grimace, or similar expression.
    1. Utterance; voice: gave mouth to her doubts.
    2. A tendency to talk excessively or unwisely.
    3. Impudent or vulgar talk: Watch your mouth.
    4. An opening in the pipe of an organ.
    5. The opening in the mouthpiece of a flute across which the player blows.
  6. A spokesperson: a mouthpiece.
  7. A natural opening, as the part of a stream or river that empties into a larger body of water or the entrance to a harbor, canyon, valley, or cave.
  8. The opening through which a container is filled or emptied.
  9. The opening between the jaws of a vise or other holding or gripping tool.
  10. Music
    1. An opening in the pipe of an organ.
    2. The opening in the mouthpiece of a flute across which the player blows.
v.   (mouth) mouthed, mouth·ing, mouths

v.   tr.
  1. To speak or pronounce, especially:
    1. To declare in a pompous manner; declaim: mouthing his opinions of the candidates.
    2. To utter without conviction or understanding: mouthing empty compliments.
    3. To form soundlessly: I mouthed the words as the others sang.
    4. To utter indistinctly; mumble.
  2. To take or move around in the mouth.
v.   intr.
  1. To orate affectedly; declaim.
  2. To grimace.
Phrasal Verb(s):
mouth off Slang
  1. To express one's opinions or complaints in a loud, indiscreet manner.
  2. To speak impudently; talk back.

Idiom(s):
down in/at the mouthDiscouraged; sad; dejected.

[Middle English, from Old English mūth; see men-2 in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Mouth

Mouth\ (mouth), n.; pl. Mouths (mou[th]z). [OE. mouth, mu[thorn], AS. m[=u][eth]; akin to D. mond, OS. m[=u][eth], G. mund, Icel. mu[eth]r, munnr, Sw. mun, Dan. mund, Goth. mun[thorn]s, and possibly L. mentum chin; or cf. D. muil mouth, muzzle, G. maul, OHG. m[=u]la, Icel. m[=u]li, and Skr. mukha mouth.]

1. The opening through which an animal receives food; the aperture between the jaws or between the lips; also, the cavity, containing the tongue and teeth, between the lips and the pharynx; the buccal cavity.

2. Hence: An opening affording entrance or exit; orifice; aperture; as: (a) The opening of a vessel by which it is filled or emptied, charged or discharged; as, the mouth of a jar or pitcher; the mouth of the lacteal vessels, etc. (b) The opening or entrance of any cavity, as a cave, pit, well, or den. (c) The opening of a piece of ordnance, through which it is discharged. (d) The opening through which the waters of a river or any stream are discharged. (e) The entrance into a harbor.

3. (Saddlery) The crosspiece of a bridle bit, which enters the mouth of an animal.

4. A principal speaker; one who utters the common opinion; a mouthpiece.

Every coffeehouse has some particular statesman belonging to it, who is the mouth of the street where he lives. --Addison.

5. Cry; voice. [Obs.] --Dryden.

6. Speech; language; testimony.

That in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. --Matt. xviii. 16.

7. A wry face; a grimace; a mow.

Counterfeit sad looks, Make mouths upon me when I turn my back. --Shak.

Down in the mouth, chapfallen; of dejected countenance; depressed; discouraged. [Obs. or Colloq.]

Mouth friend, one who professes friendship insincerely. --Shak.

Mouth glass, a small mirror for inspecting the mouth or teeth.

Mouth honor, honor given in words, but not felt. --Shak.

Mouth organ. (Mus.) (a) Pan's pipes. See Pandean. (b) An harmonicon.

Mouth pipe, an organ pipe with a lip or plate to cut the escaping air and make a sound.

To stop the mouth, to silence or be silent; to put to shame; to confound.

The mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped. --Ps. lxiii. 11.

Whose mouths must be stopped. --Titus i. 11.

Mouth

Mouth\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Mouthed; p. pr. & vb. n. Mouthing.]

1. To take into the mouth; to seize or grind with the mouth or teeth; to chew; to devour. --Dryden.

2. To utter with a voice affectedly big or swelling; to speak in a strained or unnaturally sonorous manner. "Mouthing big phrases." --Hare.

Mouthing out his hollow oes and aes. --Tennyson.

3. To form or cleanse with the mouth; to lick, as a bear her cub. --Sir T. Browne.

4. To make mouths at. [R.] --R. Blair.

Mouth

Mouth\, v. i. 1. To speak with a full, round, or loud, affected voice; to vociferate; to rant.

I'll bellow out for Rome, and for my country, And mouth at C[ae]sar, till I shake the senate. --Addison.

2. To put mouth to mouth; to kiss. [R.] --Shak.

3. To make grimaces, esp. in ridicule or contempt.

Well I know, when I am gone, How she mouths behind my back. --Tennyson.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : mouth
Spanish: boca,
German: der Mund,
Japanese: 口
More Translations »

mouth 
O.E. muþ, from P.Gmc. *munthaz (cf. O.Fris. muth, O.N. munnr, M.Du. mont, Ger. Mund, Goth. munþs "mouth"), with characteristic loss of nasal consonant in O.E. (cf. tooth, goose, etc.), from PIE *mnto-s (cf. L. mentum "chin"). In the sense of "outfall of a river" it is attested from c.1122; as the opening of anything with capacity (a bottle, cave, etc.) it is recorded from c.1200. The verb is c.1300, "to speak," from the noun. Mouthful "a lot to say" is from 1748.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: mouth
Pronunciation: 'mauth
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural mouths /'mauthz/
: the natural openingthrough which food passes into the animal body and which in vertebrates is typically bounded externally by the lips and internally by the pharynx and encloses the tongue, gums, and teeth
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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mouth (mouth)
n. pl. mouths (mou&phonth;z)

  1. The body opening through which an animal takes in food.
  2. The oral cavity.
  3. The opening to any cavity or canal in an organ or a bodily part.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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mouth

In addition to the idiom beginning with mouth, also see bad mouth; big mouth; butter wouldn't melt in one's mouth; down in the dumps (mouth); foam at the mouth; foot in one's mouth; from the horse's mouth; hand to mouth; have one's heart in one's mouth; keep one's mouth shut; laugh out of the other side of one's mouth; leave a bad taste in one's mouth; look a gift horse in the mouth; make one's mouth water; melt in one's mouth; not open one's mouth; out of the mouths of babes; put one's money where one's mouth is; put words in someone's mouth; run off at the mouth; shoot off one's mouth; take the bit in one's mouth; take the bread out of someone's mouth; take the words out of someone's mouth; word of mouth.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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