mouth Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the opening through which food is taken in and vocalizations emerge
    oral fissure; oral cavity; rima oris.
    • he stuffed his mouth with candy
  2. noun the externally visible part of the oral cavity on the face and the system of organs surrounding the opening
    • she wiped lipstick from her mouth
  3. noun an opening that resembles a mouth (as of a cave or a gorge)
    • he rode into the mouth of the canyon
    • they built a fire at the mouth of the cave
  4. noun the point where a stream issues into a larger body of water
    • New York is at the mouth of the Hudson
  5. noun a person conceived as a consumer of food
    • he has four mouths to feed
  6. noun a spokesperson (as a lawyer)
    mouthpiece.
  7. noun an impudent or insolent rejoinder
    sass; back talk; sassing; lip; backtalk.
    • don't give me any of your sass
  8. noun the opening of a jar or bottle
    • the jar had a wide mouth
  9. verb express in speech
    verbalise; verbalize; utter; talk; speak.
    • She talks a lot of nonsense
    • This depressed patient does not verbalize
  10. verb articulate silently; form words with the lips only
    • She mouthed a swear word
  11. verb touch with the mouth

WordNet

Mouth noun
Etymology
OE. mouth, mu, AS. m; akin to D. mond, OS. m, G. mund, Icel. mur, munnr, Sw. mun, Dan. mund, Goth. muns, and possibly L. mentum chin; or cf. D. muil mouth, muzzle, G. maul, OHG. mla, Icel. mli, and Skr. mukha mouth.
Wordforms
plural Mouths
Definitions
  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.
    The mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped. Ps. lxiii. 11.
    Whose mouths must be stopped. Titus i. 11.
Mouth transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Mouthed ; present participle & verbal noun Mouthing
Definitions
  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 intransitive verb
Definitions
  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 Cæsar, 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 1913