bad-mouth

bad-mouth
bad-mouther, n.
/bad"mowth'/ or, sometimes, /-mowdh'/, v.t., bad-mouthed, bad-mouthing.
Slang. to speak critically and often disloyally of; disparage: Why do you bad-mouth your family so much? Also, badmouth.
[1935-40; orig. a curse, spell (the sense recorded in Gullah); cf. Vai (Mande language of Liberia and Sierra Leone) dà nyà mà curse, lit., bad mouth]

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • bad mouth — (UK) When you are bad mouthing,you are saying negative things about someone or something.( Bad mouth and badmouth are also used.) …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • bad-mouth — (v.) abuse someone verbally, 1941, probably ultimately from noun phrase bad mouth (1835), in Black English, a curse, spell, translating an idiom found in African and West Indian languages …   Etymology dictionary

  • bad-mouth — bad mouth; bad mouth·er; …   English syllables

  • bad-mouth — ☆ bad mouth [bad′mouth΄ ] vt., vi. Slang to find fault (with); criticize or disparage …   English World dictionary

  • bad-mouth — (someone/something) to say unpleasant things about someone or something, especially in order to spoil other people s opinions of them. She s always bad mouthing her colleagues. Bad mouthing the police is hardly an original occupation …   New idioms dictionary

  • bad-mouth — v [T] informal especially AmE to criticize someone or something ▪ Her former colleagues accused her of bad mouthing them in public …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • bad-mouth — [v] to denigrate belittle, criticize, cut down to size*, dis*, disparage, dump on*, find fault, knock*, malign, mudsling*, pan, pooh pooh*, put down*, rap, rip, roast*, run down*, slam, slander, take a dig at*, take down a peg*, tear down*, tear… …   New thesaurus

  • bad-mouth — ► VERB informal ▪ criticize maliciously …   English terms dictionary

  • bad-mouth — 1. tv. to speak ill of someone or something. (See also dirty mouth; poor mouth.) □ I wish you would stop bad mouthing my car. □ Harry bad mouths everything he doesn’t understand. 2. n. someone who speaks ill of someone or something. □ …   Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions

  • bad-mouth — or bad′mouth [[t]ˈbædˌmaʊθ[/t]] or, sometimes, [[t] ˌmaʊð[/t]] v. t. mouthed, mouth•ing cvb to criticize, often disloyally • Etymology: 1935–40 …   From formal English to slang

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