(English Idioms & Sayings)

Mouth and Teeth Idioms

acquire a taste for (something)

- to develop a liking for a particular food/drink/or something
Recently my friend has acquired a taste for expensive neckties.

armed to the teeth

- to be fully armed, to have many weapons
The robbers were armed to the teeth when they robbed the bank.

as scarce as hen's teeth

- very scarce or nonexistent
Cheap apartment rentals are as scarce as hen's teeth in this city.

bad-mouth (someone or something)

- to say bad things about someone or something
The football player began to bad-mouth his coach.

bigmouth

- a noisy/boastful/foolish talker
The man is a bigmouth and he is always talking about what he is planning to do.

bite off more than one can chew

- to try to do more than you can deal with
I am trying not to bite off more than I can chew so that I do not overwork myself.

bite one's tongue

- to try hard not to say something that you want to say
I always bite my tongue when I am talking with my sister so that I do not say the wrong thing.

bite (someone's) head off

- to speak to someone in an angry way
My sister bit my head off when I asked her a question.

bitter pill to swallow

- an unpleasant fact that you must accept
It was a bitter pill to swallow but the fact is that we lost the legal case.

born with a silver spoon in one`s mouth

- to be born to wealth and comfort, to be born rich
The boy was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and he has never worked in his life.

button one`s lip

- to stop talking, to be quiet
"Please button your lip so we can hear what the speaker is saying."

by the skin of one`s teeth

- by a narrow margin, barely
We were able to catch the train but only by the skin of our teeth.

by word of mouth

- orally, from person to person by speaking
I learned about the holiday next week by word of mouth.

cat get`s one`s tongue

- one is not willing to talk because of shyness
The cat got the woman's tongue and she was not able to say anything.

cause tongues to wag

- to give people something to gossip or talk about
The actions of our boss are causing tongues to wag.

chew (someone) out

- to scold someone
The girl began to chew her boyfriend out in the supermarket.

chew the fat/rag

- to chat or talk informally with one's friends
I stopped to chew the fat with an old friend from high school.

clam up

- to close one's mouth, to shut up
The students clammed up when they saw the teacher.

cough (something) up

- to produce something (information/money) that someone is trying to force you to produce
We asked our friend to cough up some money for the restaurant meal.

cut one's eyeteeth on (something)

- to have much experience with something, to have done something since one was very young
My cousin cut his eyeteeth on fixing computers and now he is an expert at it.

cut one's (own) throat

- to experience certain failure
The man cut his own throat when he suddenly quit his job.

down in the mouth

- depressed and unhappy
My friend looked down in the mouth after he finished work yesterday.

down the hatch

- something is swallowed
The cough medicine went down the hatch as soon as I gave it to my little boy.

eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth

- a system of punishment where you punish someone in the same way that they hurt you
The citizens wanted an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth when they learned about the child's murder.

fight (someone or something) tooth and nail

- to fight against someone or something with great energy
The citizens fought the government tooth and nail over the government plans for the new airport.

find one's tongue

- to be able to talk
The man could not find his tongue when he was asked to speak at the banquet.

foam at the mouth

- to be very angry (a sick dog foams at the mouth)
The girl's father was so angry that he was almost foaming at the mouth.

force (something) down (someone's) throat

- to force someone to do or agree to something that he or she does not want
I wish that my friend would not force her ideas down my throat.

give one's eye teeth (to do something)

- to want to do something very much
The little boy would give his eye teeth to have a little puppy.