MOUTH

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.

Hence:

An opening affording entrance or exit; orifice; aperture; as:

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.

The opening or entrance of any cavity, as a cave, pit, well, or den.

The opening of a piece of ordnance, through which it is discharged.

The opening through which the waters of a river or any stream are discharged.

The entrance into a harbor.

The crosspiece of a bridle bit, which enters the mouth of an animal.

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.

Cry; voice. [Obs.] Dryden.

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

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.

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

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.

To form or cleanse with the mouth; to lick, as a bear her cub. Sir T. Browne.

To make mouths at. [R.] R. Blair.

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.

To put mouth to mouth; to kiss. [R.] Shak.

To make grimaces, esp. in ridicule or contempt. Well I know, when I am gone, How she mouths behind my back. Tennyson.