Green’s Dictionary of Slang

see say a mouthful under say v.

a noisy, talkative, loud-mouthed person.

1800		Sporting Mag. Sept. XVI 256/1: Our old Bartholomew Fair acquaintance, Swords, nicknamed Mouth Almighty [...] was cryer to a Thespian Booth. [...] His bellowing was so harmonious, and his tremendous vortex so wide [etc.].
1849		Sam Sly 28 Apr. 3/1: We advise Mr. M—p—t, alias Mouth Almighty, alias the hand- some counter-jumper, not to be seen in the King’s-road with dissolute female characters.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 691: He had the impudence to make up to me one time well done to him mouth almighty.
1982		(con. 1930s–50s) É. Mac Thomáis Janey Mack, Me Shirt is Black 106: Mouth almighty. There’s only one mouth bigger than yours, it’s Portsmouth.
1983		J. Sullivan ‘Wanted’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] Is it true that mouth almighty over there has got the contract?
1998		G. Burn Happy Like Murderers 46: But they – that is to say he – had a way with the chat. Mouth almighty.

1. (US) a braggart, an empty boaster.

1927

(con. 1900s) S. Lewis Elmer Gantry 111: He’d show ’em! Some of these fellows that thought he was just a mouth-artist!

2. (US) a talented fellator/fellatrix.

1988

(con. 1940s) C. Bram Hold Tight (1990) 145: He wanted to feel contemptuous of Hank for being such a mouth artist.

(US gambling) a verbal promise of a bet.

a.1889		in Detroit Free Press n.p.: ‘Then, governor. I see you ten dolIars and raise you the whole State of Vermont.’ The game ceased. Mouth-betting was not a success [B&L].
1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.

see separate entry.

the act of informing.

1973

E. Bunker No Beast So Fierce 69: A passer was caught, and in the police station had an attack of mouth diarrhea.

see separate entries.

see under habit n.

a person who gapes stupidly at anything and everything.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Mouth half Cocks, gaping and staring at every thing they see.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: Mouth half Cockt, gaping and staring at every Thing they see.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn).
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

(US gay) fellatio.

1972

B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 34: act of sucking the penis until ejaculation [...] mouth job.

the practice of cunnilingus.

1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 193: Mouth music A taboo and gross expression meaning the practice of cunnilingus. Never used in mixed or family company.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.

(orig. US) a braggart, a boaster, a chatterer.

1966

R. Stone Hall of Mirrors (1987) 202: You’re a drunk, you’re cowardly, you’re a mouthoff.

1. a spokesman.

1881

in Bill Nye’s Western Humor (1968) 13: Secretary Spates, the silver-tongue orator and gilt-edged mouth organ of Wyoming.

2. the tongue.

1926

Maines & Grant Wise-crack Dict. 11: Mouth organ – the tongue.

feminine scolding, nagging.

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.

see separate entry.

(US black) impulsive or thoughtless talk.

1931

A. Bontemps God Sends Sun. 104: ‘Damn ’em all, all de womens! I b’lieve Florence is bad luck to me anyhow.’ But that was just mouth-talk. He had hardly spoken the words when he wondered if he were not actually losing his mind about her.

the vagina.

[1787		Harris’s List of Covent-Garden Ladies 57: He backwards drew / The shrunk machine, from that sweet coral mouth].
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1896		Farmer Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 145: Gauffrière, f. The female pudendum; ‘mouth thankless’.

see separate entries.

(US) bragging, boastfulness, empty words.

1953

W.P. McGivern Big Heat 122: Hee knew Bannion was ready to kill him; this wasn’t just mouthwork.

1. (gay, also mouth queen) a fellator.

1941		G. Legman ‘Lang. of Homosexuality’ Appendix VII in Henry Sex Variants.
1965		Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 31: mouthworker (n.): A fellator.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 52: fellator [...] mouth queen [worker].

2. (drugs) one who takes drugs orally.

1957		E. & S. Deak Grand Dictionnaire d’Americanismes.
1982		cited in Spears Sl. and Jargon of Drugs and Drink (1986).
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 15: Mouth worker — One who takes drugs orally.

see lip wrestle under lip n.¹

all talk and no action, a braggart, a fake.

1886		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 16 Oct. 14/3: They say Latham Is all mouth, but this must be a mistake .
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 11 Dec. 5/1: What is the difference between M F and Shad M ? One ia all coat and no trousers, and the other is all trousers and no coat.
1960		L.P. Hartley in Adam XXVIII-XXIX 34: Most men are all mouth and trousers — well, I like the trousers best, if you see what I mean.
1967		J. Speight ‘I Can Give it Up Anytime I Like’ Till Death Us Do Part [TV script] See, he can’t – he’s all mouth and trousers.
1978		R. Caron Go-Boy! 100: It turned out that Gordon was all mouth and no longer wanted to exit [...] on a stretcher.
1985		S. Berkoff West in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 134: Where were you, deserted me ye men of little faith / all mouth and trousers when it comes down to the crunch.
1993		Smith & Noble Neddy (1998) 223: When I fronted him over it, he tried to bluff me. [...] I tested him out and found that he is all mouth and very little ability to back it up.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 65: Aw mooth n nae troosers that prick.
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 162: Still all mouf innit.
2006		P. Carey Theft 149: He was all piss and wind [...] all mouth and trousers.
2009		R. Milward Ten Storey Love Song 201: Stephenson won’t say anything — he’s all mouth and no chinos, that sort of wanker.
2013		email to Guardian 7 Feb. 🌐 Just some snotty nosed little toss rats, whose closest relationship to a women is Mrs Palm and her 5 daughters [...] all mouth and no trousers.

see under diarrhoea n.

see under dip v.²

(US) keep quiet, esp. in a difficult situation where words might complicate matters; the phr. is variable, ass often being prefaced by a type of bird, e.g. don’t let your alligator mouth overload your canary ass.

1972		E. Folb Urban Black Argot 137: Don’t Let Your mouth Overload Your Ass don’t talk too much.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 44: Don’t let your mouth overload your ass [...] refers to provocative talk.
1980		C.H. Haseloff Ride South! 150: Don’t let your alligator mouth overload your jaybird ass.
1996		W. Karlin Rumors and Stories 55: Don’t let your alligator mouth overload your lizard ass and all that other kind of Vietnam talk.
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 37: Don’t let your three-hundred-pound mouth overload your hundred-and-thirty-pound ass.
1999		P. Abresch Bloody Bonsai 49: A familiar kid’s saying came back to him from his childhood days: Don’t let your alligator mouth overload your canary ass.
2001		G. Pelecanos Right As Rain 287: I knew his mouth was overloadin’ his asshole, man, but with the alcohol runnin’ through me and shit —.
2004		Black Belt (LA) Feb. 97/2: Moral: Don’t let your alligator mouth overload your canary tail feathers.
2009		J.W. Huffman Wayward Wind 255: Mr. Harte, I recommend you don’t let your alligator mouth overload your mockingbird ass in the future.

(US) keep quiet, esp. when speaking might make matters worse.

1972		E. Folb Urban Black Argot 137: Don’t Let Your Mouth Buy What Your Ass can’t Pay For don’t talk so much.
1994		C. Major Juba to Jive.

(orig. US black) keep quiet, esp. when speaking might make matters worse.

1972		H. Crews Car 60: Someday, if you’re not careful, you’ll write a check with your mouth that your ass can’t cash.
1972		B. Webster One by One 29: You shouldn’t let your mouth write a check that your muscle can’t cash.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 44: Don’t let your mouth write a check your ass can’t cash refers to provocative talk [...] that can often lead to a fight.
1985		C. Portis Norwood 184: Don’t let your mouth write a check that your ass can’t cash, son.
1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl. 58: write checks you can’t cash To make boasts you cannot back up. To make promises you cannot keep. To talk stuff. ‘Don’t come around here and be writin’ no checks you can’t cash; you jump bad, we’ll kick your ass!’.
1992		R. Vaughan Cold War 42: Now, just hold it right there, Lieutenant, before you let your alligator mouth write a check your hummingbird ass can’t cash.
1999		C. Brookmyre One Fine Day (1999) 62: His mooth was aye writin’ cheques his arse couldnae cash.
2006		E. Davis Snitchcraft 80: Candace stepped closer to Dee [...] and very calmly said, “Don’t let your mouth write a check your ass can’t cash.

to be cheeky.

1878		‘’Arry on Himself’ in Punch 21 Dec. in P. Marks (2006) 6: Mayn’t a cove give it mouth ’cos his patter ain’t up to Pall Mall?
1881		‘New Year’s Day’ in Pearl Christmas Annual 70: Why don’t you give it mouth, Simpson, as you did when you abused me and Mrs. Jones?
1959		W. Hall Long and the Short and the Tall Act I: bamforth: You going to inspect us, Corp? / johnstone: Don’t give me any of your mouth.
1972		Hall & Adelman Gentleman of Leisure 148: I used to give Silky mouth.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 49: Chinko’s been giein it loadsay fuckin mooth awright.

(Aus.) to experience the dry mouth, furred tongue and disgusting taste that can accompany a hangover .

1986

C. Bowles G’DAY 88: Shane is not feeling too clever when he wakes up. He has a mouth like an abo’s armpit.

to experience the dry mouth, furred tongue and disgusting taste that can accompany a hangover.

1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 148: His mouth tasted like an Iranian tank driver’s jock strap.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 87: Many Lingo terms refer to, involve, or name parts of the human body [...] We may [...] have a mouth like the bottom of a birdcage, or like a greek wrestler’s jockstrap.
1999		Kerrang! 18 Sept. 🌐 Dave Grohl is hung over. Not just slightly groggy hung-over, but full-on mouth-like-an-Arab’s-sandshoe-I-want-to-die-now hung-over.
1999–2002		‘Hungover Gloss.’ at HairyTongue.com 🌐 Mouth like an Arab’s sandal [phrase.] [...] Mouth like an Arabs jock strap [phrase.] [...] Mouth like Badgers Arse [phrase.].
2002		Supple.co.uk 23 Aug. 🌐 I wasn’t drunk on it, but later that night I woke up with a mouth like an Arab’s arse, so had to crawl downstairs and drink a few gallons of water.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 137: mouth like the inside of a Pommie’s jockstrap Rank, fuzzed taste from too much booze the night before. ANZ.

to be severely hungover, suffering the effects of a heavy night’s drinking; also as one’s mouth is like….

1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 188: Cor, me north an’ south is like a wrestler’s jockstrap.
1977		G. Melly Rum, Bum and Concertina (1978) 118: Next day we awoke with splitting headaches and mouths like turkish wrestlers’ jockstraps.

used, with or without have a mouth, as a measure of an extreme, e.g. of dryness, smelliness, death etc.

1999–2002		‘Hungover Gloss.’ at HairyTongue.com 🌐 511. Mouth like Gandhi’s flip-flop [phrase.] [...] 512. Mouth like Mother Theresa’s flip flop.
2000		M. Pye Lollipop [ebook] He opened the can of lager and took a long satisfying swig: icy cold, numbing the back of his throat - just what you need in the morning when you've got a mouth like one of Gandhi's flip-flop.
2009		M. Hammond Immediate Response [ebook] I sleepily gathered up all my stuff. My mouth tasted as dry as Gandhi's flip-flop.
2011		J.J. McClure Caddy Chronicles bk 1 [ebook] He pulled the lid off the object and sprayed some contents under each armpit. A manly aroma filled the car. ‘God, I needed that [...] I smelt like Gandhi's flip-flops’.
2017		T. Lewis Cup & Sorcery [ebook] [B]ut an unfortunate encounter with a rogue demon [...] left him deader than Gandhi's flip-flops.
2022		Urban Dict. 8 July 🌐 Gandhi's flip flop Burnt to an absolute crisp [...] ‘Overcooked on the bottom, Crispy as fuck and it looks like Gandhi's Flip Flop, What a shame’ - Gordon Ramsay on Hell's Kitchen.

to be suffering the physical results of a night’s drinking; also as one’s mouth feels like...

1919		A. Baer Two and Three 17 Jan. [synd. col.] No more will we wake up [with] our mouths tasting like the bottom of a parrot’s cage.
1923		Manchon Le Slang.
1949		I. Shulman Cry Tough! 83: ‘Christ,’ [...] you look like the bottom of a bird cage. What the hell’s the matter with you?’ ‘I told you,’ Mitch said. ‘I got drunk Saturday night and I’ve been feeling lousy ever since.’.
1951		Cusack & James Come in Spinner (1960) 109: I’ve got a mouth like the bottom of a birdcage.
1957		‘Neville Shute’ On the Beach 56: I’ve got a mouth like the bottom of the parrot’s cage.
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 232: Bloody awful. Mouth like the bottom of a birdcage.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 87: Many Lingo terms refer to, involve, or name parts of the human body [...] We may [...] have a mouth like the bottom of a birdcage, or like a greek wrestler’s jockstrap.

(Aus.) to have a mouth that is unpleasantly furred, the result of excessive drinking.

1953		I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 79: Don’t go no a hunger strike after a spell of bread and water. Your tongue’s like the bottom of a cocky’s cage.
1963		F.J. Hardy Legends from Benson’s Valley 26: I awoke with a mouth like the bottom of a cockie’s cage.
1971		D. Ireland Unknown Industrial Prisoner 8: His tongue was still cocky caged from the night before.
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 15: One is said to have ‘a mouth like the bottom of a cocky’s cage’ when one is suffering from a terminal hangover.
1989		A. Skerman Beyond Indigo 283: The condition your mouth must be in, anything’d taste like the floor of Cocky’s cage.
2010		M. Moody Sweet Surrender 99: I literally had no saliva in my mouth and no matter how much water I drank I still felt as though my mouth was, to use that delightful Australian phrase, like the bottom of a cocky's cage.

1. to be foul-mouthed or abusive; to be aggressively cheeky.

1888		‘’Arry on Marriage’ in Punch 29 Sept. 156/1: Great Scott, wot a patter he ’ad, and a mouth on ’im, ah! like the doose!
1973		G.V. Higgins Digger’s Game (1981) 143: You really got a mouth on you like a fuckin’ sewer.
1986		R. Campbell In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 22: ‘You’ve got a mouth.’ ‘You men teach us how to talk dirty, then you flinch.’.
1998		G. Burn Happy Like Murderers 84: Hello Mr. Plod. Cunt. Oh, already she had a mouth on her.
2006		G. Pelecanos Night Gardener 113: Had a mouth on her, too. They was arguing over shit the whole time.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 23: You got a mouth on you, you know that?

2. (Aus./Irish) to be thirsty; usu. as interrog. do you have a mouth on you? would you like a drink?

1903		J. Furphy Such is Life 11: A man that sets down to his dinner without askin’ another man whether he’s got a mouth on him or not!
c.1940–5		‘Myles na gCopaleen’ Best of Myles (1968) 241: That chancer was never in his life known to have asked a pal if he had a mouth on him.
1950		S. Murphy Stone Mad (1966) 226: Did I hear somewan saying had I a mouth on me?

to act in a childish manner.

1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn).
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

to be quiet; usu. as imper.

1887		Lantern (N.O.) 14 May 2: [She] is to receive new shoes for holding her mouth and say nothing of what she saw.
1897		Boy’s Own Paper 27 Nov. 133: Hold your mouth, you one-eyed old tater-grubber.
1935		M. Sandoz Jules 280: Hold your mouth [DARE].
2003		Dizzee Rascal [song title] Hold Ya Mouf.

(US prison) eavesdropping.

2000

Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 In My Mouth: Some one is listening in on the conversation. As in ‘man that hack is all in my mouth.’.

to speak insolently (to).

c.1600		Shakespeare Hamlet II:2: Those that would make mouths at him while my father lived give twenty, forty, fifty, a hundred ducats apiece for his picture in little .
1676		Etherege Man of Mode I i: dorimant: The nasty refuse of your shop. orange-woman: You need not make mouths at it, I assure you ’tis all culled ware.
1709		‘Phoebe Crackenthorpe’ Female Tatler (1992) (3) 7: The girl, perceiving, made mouths at her, and hoyden’d out of the room.

to be hanged.

1598		R. Bernard (trans.) in Terence Eunuch IV iv: Howe the hangman makes a wrie mouth [OED].
1611		R. Cotgrave Dict. of Fr. and Eng. Tongues.
1700		T. Brown Amusements Serious and Comical in Works (1744) III 62: A wry mouth on the triple tree puts an end to all discourse about us.

(W.I.) a chatterbox, a malicious gossip.

1943

cited in Cassidy & LePage Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980).

the vagina.

1748–49

Cleland Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1985) 116: He gently disclos’d the lips of that luscious mouth of nature.

(W.I.) a phr. used of an incessant irritating chatterer.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

the vagina.

1719

in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy IV 71: My pretty Maid, fain would I know / What thing it is will breed Delight, / That strives to stand, yet cannot go, / That feeds the Mouth that cannot bite.

the vagina.

1834

‘Rummy Toasts’ in Flare-Up Songster in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) IV 295: May the mouth be well fed that hath no teeth.

the vagina.

1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1896		Farmer Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 42: Bouche, f. The female pudendum; ‘the mouth that says no word about it’.

(W.I.) to slander, to speak rudely about.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

(US black) to lose one’s temper.

1983

R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].

to make a comment.

1856

M. Griffith Autobiog. of a Female Slave 168: Take that for yer imperdence. Who tole you to put yer mouth in?

(W.I.) to be forced to make a heavy payment after losing a libel suit.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

(W.I.) to denigrate, to slander .

1869		H.G. Murray ‘Tom Kittle’s Wake’ in D’Costa & Lalla Voices in Exile (1989) 100: He have her the weight of his fist the moment she attempted to ‘put her mout’ upon him.
1982		W.D. Myers Won’t Know Till I Get There 9: ‘If you put your mouth on me, I’m gonna bust you up’.
1983		T. White Catch a Fire 147: The rude boys [...] ‘put mout’ on’ (cursed out each other) to win the attentions of some stupid girls.
1996		W.D. Myers Slam! 213: [I]f you show late he cops this nasty attitude and puts his mouth on you.

1. to gossip, to tell tales.

1933		Louis Armstrong [instrumental title] You Run Your Mouth, I’ll Run My Business.
1948		Z.N. Hurston Seraph on the Suwanee (1995) 726: Jim was off somewhere. Could be down there in the grove running his mouth off with Alfredo.
1957		‘Ed Lacy’ Lead With Your Left (1958) 50: You can get into trouble by talking too damn much. Know who you’re talking to before you run your gums.
1958		‘Ed Lacy’ Room to Swing 113: Sorry, boy, I shouldn’t have run my mouth like that.
1962		(con. WWII) J.O. Killens And Then We Heard The Thunder (1964) 95: You run your big fat ignorant mouth and me and Professor Solly gon run our business.
1977		A. Brooke Last Toke 53: ’Bout time you be listenin’ ’stead o’ keep runnin’ you mouth.
1986		R. Campbell In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 55: It could be he called her Bouche because her mouth was pretty, because she ran it all the time, or because it was her sexual speciality.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 378: It was Savage [...] who run his mouf how the plaguers oughta be taken out to the range n shot.
2000		Eminem ‘Marshall Mathers’ 🎵 Now everybody wanna run they mouth / and try to take shots at me.
2020		S.A. Crosby Blacktop Wasteland 190: ‘The other thing we don’t do in this family is run our mouths’.

2. to give advice.

1940		Louis Jordan ‘You Run Your Mouth and I’ll Run My Business’ 🎵 You always tellin’ me what to do, / Sayin’, ‘I wouldn’t do that if I was you!’ / You run your mouth and I’ll run my business, brother.
1963		H.S. Thompson letter 23 Aug. in Proud Highway (1997) 393: My impression is that one American working with his hands in Latin America is worth ten running their mouths.
1972		O. Hawkins Ghetto Sketches 17: The one that’s always runnin’ his damned mouth is walkin’ off.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 148: ‘Don’t run your mouth,’ he said. ‘Just listen for a minute.’.

3. to talk without restraint.

1902		J.D. Corrothers Black Cat Club 128: Let de man talk, can’t you? You allus runnin’ yo’ gab!
1945		R.M. Lindner Stone Walls and Men 356: If you talked in your sleep it meant court and you were therefore charged with ‘running your mouth’ in the dormitory.
1958		E. Gilbert Vice Trap 40: Shirley ran her mouth too much. She talked a streak.
1969		U. Hannerz Soulside 105: ‘You just get together and try to be sociable, that’s all,’ one man puts it. Somewhat less charitably, another man says: ‘You just sit there and let your mouth run’ .
1981		M. Baker Nam (1982) 145: This guy is running his mouth. You can’t keep him from talking. You’d have to gag him to make him shut up.
1993		S. King Dolores Claiborne 65: She ran her mouth until she got all tuckered out.
2008		Simon & Zorzi ‘Unconfirmed Reports’ Wire ser. 5 ep. 2 [TV script] He got a big fuckin’ mouth. An’ you need to stop runnin’ your own mouth, young’un.
2022		I. Fitzgerald Dirtbag, Massachusetts 61: I wasn’t told not to run my mouth; it was ingrained in me.

4. as run up one’s mouth, to brag, to boast, to fantasize.

1996		W.D. Myers Slam! 235: ‘I bet we beat you by twenty points.’ Ice was in my face running his mouth.
1999		(con. 1979–80) A. Wheatle Brixton Rock (2004) 102: He reckons he’s having a party next week, but I feel so he’s running up his mout’.
2004		Taskforce ‘Remus Returns’ 🎵 You’re only starting out / So do not run your mouth.
2011		G. Hayward Corruption Officer [ebk] cap. 36: Now the inmate was openly challenging me [...] I sat back in my seat and just weatched him run his mouth.

(US black) to gossip, to malign.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 198: There were terms related to gossip and those who gossiped: set mouth, snipe [...] (gossip, talk badly about someone).

to be duped.

1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

(US black) to comment, to interfere verbally.

1979

W.D. Myers The Young Landlords 63: I was afraid that if we fouled it up my father was going to stick his mouth in it.