poor mouth

[ poor-mohth ]
See synonyms for poor mouth on Thesaurus.com
nounInformal.
  1. a person who continually complains about a lack of money.

  2. a plea or complaint of poverty, often as an excuse for not contributing to charities, paying bills, etc.

Idioms about poor mouth

  1. cry poor mouth, Informal. to complain, especially habitually, about a lack of money.: Also talk a poor mouth.

Origin of poor mouth

1
First recorded in 1815–25

Other definitions for poor-mouth (2 of 2)

poor-mouth
[ poor-mouth ]

verb (used without object),poor-mouthed [poor-moutht, -mouthd], /ˈpʊərˌmaʊθt, -ˌmaʊðd/, poor-mouth·ing.
  1. to lament or argue that one is too poor; plead poverty.

verb (used with object),poor-mouthed [poor-moutht, -mouthd], /ˈpʊərˌmaʊθt, -ˌmaʊðd/, poor-mouth·ing.
  1. to declare (one's ability, power, position, etc.) to be inadequate or disappointing, sometimes as an intentional understatement; downplay: We know you're just poor-mouthing your skill at playing bridge—you're a good player.

Origin of poor-mouth

2
1965–70; Americanism; originally in verb phrases put up a poor mouth, make a poor mouth

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use poor mouth in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for poor mouth

poor mouth

/ Irish /


noun
  1. unjustified complaining, esp to excite sympathy: she always has the poor mouth

verbpoor-mouth (tr)
  1. informal to speak of disparagingly; decry

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012