Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of 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\, 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\, 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.