mouth

Less common meanings

6. 6
   nouncountable

   Someone viewed simply as another person needing food, especially a family member who depends on others.

   Her small paycheck had to stretch to one more mouth after her nephew moved in.

   The farmer wondered how he would feed so many hungry mouths through a long winter.

   UsageMostly with feed: another mouth to feed, hungry mouths, often with worry about money.

7. 7
   nouncolloquialuncountable

   Insolent or disrespectful speech, especially back talk aimed at a person in authority.

   The sergeant had no patience for mouth from new recruits.

   She got detention for giving her math teacher a lot of mouth.

   UsageUsually used with give: Don't give me any mouth.

   Similarlip, cheek, sass

8. 8
   verbtransitive

   To say something, especially in a pompous, insincere, or empty way.

   He mouthed empty platitudes throughout the entire meeting.

   Critics mouth the same tired complaints year after year.

   UsageOften with hollow words as the object: mouth platitudes. Mouthed the words can also mean silently, so add aloud if needed.

   Similarspout, parrot, recite, utter

   Note

   Spoken aloud this time, often with a hint that the words are hollow or borrowed, as in "mouthing big phrases" in the Hare brothers' Guesses at Truth. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The phrase "mouthing big phrases" occurs in Guesses at Truth. en.wiktionary.org
   • Guesses at Truth was written jointly by the brothers Augustus William Hare and Julius Hare. en.wikisource.org
9. 9
   verbtransitive

   To take, hold, carry, or work something with the mouth or teeth, usually without swallowing it.

   The toddler mouthed the wooden block but never tried to chew or swallow it.

   Horses sometimes mouth the bit before they settle down.

   Note

   Handling that stops short of eating: "The fish mouthed the lure, but didn't bite." Writers on animals often add over or all over, as when Francis Guillemard (1886) describes a creature that played with a fish and mouthed it all over before it vanished. The same mouthed over can also mean eating in earnest, so a word like bite or swallow nearby usually settles which is meant. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • The Guillemard work containing this passage was first published in 1886. archive.org
   • Francis Guillemard describes an animal playing with and mouthing a fish before the fish disappears. archive.org
10. 10
    loud talkernounslangcountable

    A person who talks too much, especially loudly, boastfully, or by spreading gossip.

    Don't sit next to Greg on the bus; he's a mouth who never stops talking.

    He's a real mouth, drowning out everyone else at the dinner table.

    Similarchatterbox, windbag, gossip, loudmouth, blabbermouth

    Note

    Slang that turns the body part into the whole person, often with real in front: my kid sister is a real mouth. The complaint may be about volume and nonstop talk, or about someone who cannot keep a secret and passes gossip on. Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The slang sense uses the name of a body part to refer to a whole person. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    empty intoverbintransitive

    Of a river or stream, to empty out at its mouth into a larger body of water.

    The river mouths into the Atlantic near the harbor town.

    Tributaries that mouth into the main channel swell it after heavy rain.

    Similarempty, flow, drain, discharge

    Note

    A verb that is usually followed by into or out. The Philosophical Magazine of 1906 describes hanging valleys that "mouthed into" larger valleys. T. Walter Middleton's Qualla uses mouthed out for an avalanche of stones that poured from a ravine onto a road. Water is the core case, but anything that funnels out of a channel can do it. The noun behind the verb is the river's outlet. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The Philosophical Magazine contains the hanging-valley example with "mouthed into", dated 1906. Wiktionary reproduces and attributes the passage. en.wiktionary.org
    • T. Walter Middleton uses "mouthed out" for stones descending a ravine onto a road. Wiktionary attributes this passage to Qualla, page 39. en.wiktionary.org
    • The verb derives from the noun mouth; the river-outlet sense explains this use. en.wiktionary.org
12. 12
    bridle partnouncountable

    The crosspiece of a bridle bit that goes into the animal's mouth.

    After trying several bits, the rider settled on one with a thick, smooth mouth that her nervous gelding accepted without fuss.

    Riders often choose a smooth mouth to be kinder on a sensitive horse.

13. 13
    make an openingverbtransitive

    To form a mouth or opening in something.

    The front collar must be mouthed out as shown, to take the second cone on the mandrel.

    1882, Paul Nooncree Hasluck, The Metal Turner's Handbook

    The cutting edge of a shaving cutter should be mouthed out slightly with a fine oilstone.

    1956, Mechanical World and Engineering Record - Volume 136

    Similarflare, widen

    Note

    A workshop verb that almost always comes with out. In Paul N. Hasluck's The Metal Turner's Handybook, a collar "must be mouthed out" so that a cone on the mandrel can fit into it. The result is an opening flared or widened at its rim. The word belongs to lathe and machine-shop instructions rather than everyday talk. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Paul N. Hasluck wrote The Metal Turner's Handybook. A contemporary publisher's catalogue lists it under his name. gutenberg.org
    • The quoted instruction concerns opening out a collar to accommodate a cone on the mandrel, supporting the explanation of a widened rim. en.wiktionary.org
14. 14
    lick cleanverbtransitive or intransitive

    To shape or cleanse something with the mouth, the way a bear licks her cub.

    Before egg-laying begins, the spawning grounds are mouthed over (cleaned) by both sexes.

    1965, The Aquarist and Pondkeeper - Volumes 30-31

    Meanwhile she, and the male, mouthed over the inner surface of pot until it was as clean as could be.

    1937, Aquarium Journal - Volume 10, Issue 5

    Similarlick

    Note

    Fishkeepers' writing is where this verb is most at home. A pair of fish mouths over a stone, a pot or a plant stem, working along it until it is clean, often to prepare a place to spawn. The Aquarist and Pondkeeper (1965) even explains it in passing: "mouthed over (cleaned)." Outside the aquarium it describes a mother licking her newborns clean. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Fish clean surfaces with their mouths, including pots and plant stems, sometimes before spawning. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Aquarist and Pondkeeper contains the quoted gloss. en.wiktionary.org
15. 15
    check teethverbtransitive

    To examine the teeth of an animal, especially a sheep, to judge its age.

    Experienced graziers mouth ewes before sale to estimate their age.

    He mouthed each lamb carefully, noting which teeth had come through.

    Note

    A sheep farmer's check on age and fitness. Older ewes are "mouthed out" to see whether their teeth are good for another year, because the eruption and wear of the teeth follow a predictable course. The phrasal mouth out matches the spelling of the machinist's verb but has nothing to do with it. A cautious buyer, one 1977 Agriculture Decisions report notes, would not buy sheep "without mouthing them." Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Older ewes are examined to determine whether their teeth remain serviceable for another year. extension.sdstate.edu
    • Tooth eruption and subsequent wear provide evidence of a sheep's age. extension.sdstate.edu
16. 16
    nounobsolete

    A twisted or distorted expression of the face; a grimace.

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

    c. 1595, William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”

    Note

    A grimace that lived mostly inside one phrase. In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, mockers "make mouths upon me when I turn my back": the noun sits in make mouths, plural, much as we now say pull faces. Mow is its old partner word for the same expression. The verb to make mouths at grew out of this idiom. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The quotation occurs in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, with mouths as a plural noun in make mouths. Helena speaks the line, addressing those she believes are mocking her. gutenberg.org
    • Mow is an old word meaning a grimace or wry face. en.wiktionary.org
17. 17
    nounobsolete

    A person who speaks on behalf of others, voicing the common opinion; a spokesperson.

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

    1712, [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “THURSDAY, June 12, 1712”

    Note

    An obsolete way of naming a spokesman, built as the mouth of a group. The Spectator in 1712 gives every coffeehouse a statesman "who is the mouth of the street where he lives." Today mouthpiece or spokesperson does this work. A modern listener would hear a mouth as the loud talker, so this meaning belongs to reading older prose, not to writing new sentences. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Mouth had an obsolete sense meaning a principal speaker or someone voicing the common opinion. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Spectator passage appeared in 1712, in number 403, dated June 12. gutenberg.org
    • The Spectator describes each coffeehouse's statesman using the quoted words. gutenberg.org
18. 18
    verbobsolete

    To make grimaces or insulting faces at someone in mockery.

    And that other face -- that awful, gibbering, mouthing face she drew away.

    1873, May Agnes Fleming, A Wonderful Woman

    The man mouthed at the bars. He was half-mad, I think, in that one minute.

    1906, Bernard Edward Joseph Capes, At a Winter's Fire

    Note

    The verb form of an old insult, now obsolete. It takes at: Benjamin Disraeli's Vivian Grey (1827) has a man who "mouthed at his companions even while he bowed to them." The participle also works as an adjective, as in Thomas Hood's "mouthing face" (1826). For the noun idiom it comes from, see the old word for a grimace. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

    • Benjamin Disraeli wrote Vivian Grey. gutenberg.org
    • Publication began in 1826 and continued in 1827; date the complete novel 1826–27. en.wikipedia.org
    • The novel describes a man using the exact quoted wording, including mouth at. gutenberg.org
    • Thomas Hood used mouthing adjectivally in the phrase mouthing face. gutenberg.org
    • The Irish Schoolmaster appeared in Whims and Oddities in 1826; 1854 is a collected-edition date. en.wiktionary.org
    • An older noun sense of mouth means a grimace. en.wiktionary.org