mouthing

Verb

mouth (third-person singular simple present mouths, present participle mouthing, simple past and past participle mouthed)

1. (transitive) To speak; to utter.
   • He mouthed his opinions on the subject at the meeting.
2. (transitive) To represent (words or sounds) by making the actions of speech, but silently, without producing sound; to frame.
   • The prompter mouthed the words to the actor, who had forgotten them.
3. (intransitive, transitive) To move the mouth, with or without sound; to form (air or words) with the mouth, with or without sound.
   • But words are nothing to the misbelieving -- mere air mouthed into a sound.1886, James Hogg, Polmood series, page 51
4. (ambitransitive) To utter with a voice that is overly loud or swelling.
   • Those who endeavor to become eloquent by mere imitation of some celebrated model—an actor for instance—often attempt to gain this quality by altering their voice in an unnatural manner. Such a process never produces any thing but mouthing.1846, Erasmus Darwin North, Practical Speaking: As Taught in Yale College, page 123
5. To exit at a mouth (such as a river mouth)
   • In this part of the address the position of the principal hanging-valleys was indicated , and it was pointed out that there were two sets, namely those which mouthed into valleys that had been deepened in softer rocks, and those which mouthed into portions of main valleys that had been deepened...1906, Philosophical Magazine, page 96
6. (transitive) To pick up or handle with the lips or mouth, but not chew or swallow.
   • The fish mouthed the lure, but didn't bite.

See all 21 meanings of mouth