MOUTH, n.

1. The aperture in the head of an animal, between the lips, by which he utters his voice and receives food. In a more general sense, the mouth consists of the lips, the gums, the insides of the cheeks, the palate, the salival glands, the uvula and tonsils. Encyc.
2. The opening of a vessel by which it is filled or emptied; as, the mouth of a jar or pitcher.
3. The part or channel of a river by which its waters are discharged into the ocean or into a lake. The Mississippi and the Nile discharge their waters by several mouths.
4. The opening of a piece of ordnance at the end, by which the charge issues.
5. The aperture of a vessel in animal bodies, by which fluids or other matter is received or discharged; as, the mouth of the lacteals.
6. The opening or entrance of a cave, pit, well or den. Dan. viii.
7. The instrument of speaking; as, the story is in everybody's mouth. South. Locke.
8. A principal speaker; one that utters the common opinion. Every coffee-house has some statesman belonging to it, who is the mouth of the street where he lives. Addison.
9. Cry; voice. The fearful dogs divide, / All spend their mouth aloft, but none abide. Dryden.
10. In Scripture, words uttered. Job xix. Is. xlix. Ps. lxxiii.
11. Desires; necessities. Ps. ciii.
12. Freedom and boldness of speech; force of argument. Luke xxi.
13. Boasting; vaunting. Judges ix.
14. Testimony. Deut. xvii.
15. Reproaches; calumnies. Job v. To make a mouth or to make mouths, to distort the mouth; to make a wry face; hence, to deride or treat with scorn. Shak. Addison #2. To pout; to treat disdainfully. Down in the mouth, dejected; mortified. L'Estrange. To have God's law in the mouth, to converse much on it and delight in it. Exod. xiii. To draw near to God with the mouth, to make an external appearance of devotion and worship, while there is no regard to him in the heart. Is. xxix. A froward mouth, contradictions and disobedience. Prov. iv. A smooth mouth, soft and flattering language. Prov. v. To stop the mouth, to silence or to be silent; to put to shame; confound. Rom. iii. To lay the hand on the mouth, to be struck silent with shame. Mic. vii. To set the mouth against the heavens, to speak arrogantly and blasphemously. Ps. lxxiii.

To speak with a full, round, or loud, affected voice; to vociferate; to rant; as, a mouthing actor. Dryden I'll bellow out for Rome, and for my country, / And mouth at Cesar, till I shake the senate. Addison.

1. To utter with a voice affectedly big or swelling; as, to mouth words or language. Twitch'd by the sleeve, he mouths it more and more. Dryden.
2. To take into the mouth; to seize with the mouth. Dryden.
3. To chew; to grind, as food; to eat; to devour. Shak.
4. To form by the mouth, as a bear her cub. [Not used.] Brown.
5. To reproach; to insult. Blair.

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. To take into the mouth] to seize or grind with the mouth or teeth; to chew; to devour.
   
   
   Dryden.
3. 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.

4. An opening affording entrance or exit; orifice; aperture;
   
   
   as: (a)
5. 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.

6. To put mouth to mouth; to kiss.
   
   
   [R.] Shak.
7. The crosspiece of a bridle bit, which enters the mouth of an animal.
8. To form or cleanse with the mouth; to lick, as a bear her cub.
   
   
   Sir T. Browne.
9. To make grimaces, esp. in ridicule or contempt.
   
   

   Well I know, when I am gone,
   How she mouths behind my back. Tennyson.

10. 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.

11. To make mouths at.
    
    
    [R.] R. Blair.
12. Cry; voice.
    
    
    [Obs.] Dryden.
13. Speech; language; testimony.
    
    

    That in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. Matt. xviii. 16.

14. 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.