Emily Dickinson Lexicon

MOUTH, n. [Sax. muth. As this word does not occur in the other Teutonic dialects, and as n is sometimes casually introduced into words before dentals, it is not improbable that the Goth. munths, G. and Dan. mund, Sw. mun, and D. mond, may be the same word. The Saxon muth coincides in elements with motto, Gr. μυθος.]

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.