Search the Dictionary

inibranchiate gastropods, including those that have a long retractile proboscis, with the mouth at the end, as the cones, whelks, tritons, and cowries. See Illust. of Gastropoda, and of Winkle.

Having the form or uses of a proboscis; as, a proboscidiform mouth.

A hollow organ or tube attached to the head, or connected with the mouth, of various animals, and generally used in taking food or drink; a snout; a trunk.

ic lobe (Zoöl.), that part of the head of an invertebrate animal which is in front of the mouth.

That portion of the head of an annelid situated in front of the mouth. -- Pro*sto"mi*al, a.

to contract into ridges and furrows; to corrugate; -- often with up; as, to pucker up the mouth. "His skin [was] puckered up in wrinkles." Spectator.

A sudden and single emission of breath from the mouth; hence, any sudden or short blast of wind; a slight gust; a whiff. " To every puff of wind a slave." Flatman.

in holes and feeding upon fruit. Called also palm crab. -- Purse net, a fishing net, the mouth of which may be closed or drawn together like a purse. Mortimer. Purse pride, pride of money; insolence proceeding from the possession of wealth. Bp. Hall. -- Purse rat. (Zoöl.) See Pocket gopher, under Pocket. -- Sword an…

especially, a deep mass of loose or moving sand mixed with water, sometimes found at the mouth of a river or along some coasts, and very dangerous, from the difficulty of extricating a person who begins sinking into it. Life hath quicksands, -- Life hath snares! Longfellow.

To drop from the mouth, as food when partially chewed; -- said of horses. Youatt.

To utter glibly and incoherently; to mouth without intelligence. [Obs. or Scot.] Foxe.

To bevel out, as the mouth of a hole in wood or metal; in modern usage, to enlarge or dress out, as a hole, with a reamer.

A small piece of cane or wood attached to the mouthpiece of certain instruments, and set in vibration by the breath. In the clarinet it is a single fiat reed; in the oboe and bassoon it is double, forming a compressed tube.

back; to rush or surge back. The food may regurgitatem the stomach into the esophagus and mouth. Quain.

A divice of gauze or wire, covering the mouth or nose, to prevent the inhalation of noxious substances, as dust or smoke. Being warmed by the breath, it tempers cold air passing through it, and may also be used for the inhalation of medicated vapors.

of Medusæ which includes very large species without marginal tentacles, but having large mouth lobes closely united at the edges. See Illust. in Appendix.

A low, vulgar, brutal, foul-mouthed wretch; a lewd fellow. Spenser. Pope. Ribald was almost a class name in the feudal system . . . He was his patron's parasite, bulldog, and tool . . . It is not to be wondered at that the word rapidly became a synonym for everything ruffianly and brutal. Earle.

The gape of the mouth, as of birds; -- often resricted to the corners of the mouth.

The bowhead, Arctic, or Greenland whale (Balæna mysticetus), from whose mouth the best whalebone is obtained.

Having the lips widely separated and gaping like an open mouth; as a ringent bilabiate corolla.