Mouth
Mouth (mouth) , noun
[Old English mouth, muþ, Anglo-Saxon mūe; akin to Dutch mond, Old Saxon mūe, German mund, Icelandic muer, munnr, Swedish mun, Danish mund, Gothic munþs, and possibly Latin mentum chin; or compare Dutch muil mouth, muzzle, German maul, Old High German mūla, Icelandic mūli, and Sanskrit 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.
An opening affording entrance or exit; orifice; aperture;
(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.
5.
Cry; voice. [Obsolete] — Dryden
6.
Speech; language; testimony.
That in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
7.
A wry face; a grimace; a mow.
Counterfeit sad looks,
Make mouths upon me when I turn my back.
The mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.
Whose mouths must be stopped.
Collocations (10)
Down at the mouth or Down in the mouth , chapfallen; of dejected countenance; depressed; discouraged. [Obsolete or Colloquial]
Mouth friend , one who professes friendship insincerely. — Shakespeare
Mouth glass , a small mirror for inspecting the mouth or teeth.
Mouth honor , honor given in words, but not felt. — Shakespeare
Mouth organ (Music) , (a) Pan's pipes (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.
To put one's foot in one's mouth , to say something which causes one embarrassment.
To run off at the mouth , to speak excessively.
To talk out of both sides of one's mouth , to say things which are contradictory.
Mouth (mout) , transitive verb
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; as, mouthing platitudes.
Mouthing big phrases.
Mouthing out his hollow oes and aes.
3.
To form or cleanse with the mouth; to lick, as a bear her cub. — Sir T. Browne
4.
To make mouths at. [Rare] — R. Blair
Mouth , intransitive verb
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 Caesar, till I shake the senate.
2.
To put mouth to mouth; to kiss. [Rare] — Shakespeare
3.
To make grimaces, esp. in ridicule or contempt.
Well I know, when I am gone,
How she mouths behind my back.