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Down in the mouth   /daʊn ɪn ðə maʊθ/   Listen
noun
Mouth  n.  (pl. mouths)  
1.
The opening through which an animal receives food; the aperture between the jaws or between the lips; also, the cavity, containing the tongue and teeth, between the lips and the pharynx; the buccal cavity.
2.
Hence: An opening affording entrance or exit; orifice; aperture; as:
(a)
The opening of a vessel by which it is filled or emptied, charged or discharged; as, the mouth of a jar or pitcher; the mouth of the lacteal vessels, etc.
(b)
The opening or entrance of any cavity, as a cave, pit, well, or den.
(c)
The opening of a piece of ordnance, through which it is discharged.
(d)
The opening through which the waters of a river or any stream are discharged.
(e)
The entrance into a harbor.
3.
(Saddlery) The crosspiece of a bridle bit, which enters the mouth of an animal.
4.
A principal speaker; one who utters the common opinion; a mouthpiece. "Every coffeehouse has some particular statesman belonging to it, who is the mouth of the street where he lives."
5.
Cry; voice. (Obs.)
6.
Speech; language; testimony. "That in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established."
7.
A wry face; a grimace; a mow. "Counterfeit sad looks, Make mouths upon me when I turn my back."
Down at the mouth or Down in the mouth, chapfallen; of dejected countenance; depressed; discouraged. (Obs. or Colloq.)
Mouth friend, one who professes friendship insincerely.
Mouth glass, a small mirror for inspecting the mouth or teeth.
Mouth honor, honor given in words, but not felt.
Mouth organ. (Mus.)
(a)
Pan's pipes. See Pandean.
(b)
An harmonicon.
Mouth pipe, an organ pipe with a lip or plate to cut the escaping air and make a sound.
To stop the mouth, to silence or be silent; to put to shame; to confound.
To put one's foot in one's mouth, to say something which causes one embarrassment.
To run off at the mouth, to speak excessively.
To talk out of both sides of one's mouth, to say things which are contradictory. "The mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped." "Whose mouths must be stopped."


adjective
Down  adj.  
1.
Downcast; as, a down look. (R.)
2.
Downright; absolute; positive; as, a down denial. (Obs.)
3.
Downward; going down; sloping; as, a down stroke; a down grade; a down train on a railway.
Down draught, a downward draft, as in a flue, chimney, shaft of a mine, etc.
Down in the mouth, Down at the mouth chopfallen; dejected.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Down in the mouth" Quotes from Famous Books



... the most wonderful change in this college. I rather think it is seeing what St. Ambrose's is now, and thinking what it was in my time, and what an uncommon member of society I should have turned out if I had had the luck to have been here now instead of then, that makes me down in the mouth—more even than having to pull in the torpid instead ...
— Tom Brown at Oxford • Thomas Hughes
... and this no doubt led to the allusion. He was limping along, looking decidedly down in the mouth, which, indeed, ...
— The Young Adventurer - or Tom's Trip Across the Plains • Horatio Alger
... "Well, don't be down in the mouth about it, my boy!" said Beau sympathetically. "It'll all come right, depend upon it! Your wife's a sweet, gentle, noble creature,—and when once she knows all about the miserable mistake that has arisen, I don't know which will be greatest, her happiness ...
— Thelma • Marie Corelli
... tiresome operation—so choking! He (Mr. Smith, the surgeon) was about an hour at it. He was more kind and considerate than can be expressed; when he went I said to him, 'I am very much obliged to you, first for telling me the truth, and secondly for waiting for me.' For when I got 'down in the mouth,' he waited, and chatted till I screwed up my courage again. He said, 'When people are reasonable it is barbarous to hurry them, and I said you were that when I ...
— Juliana Horatia Ewing And Her Books • Horatia K. F. Eden
... think it is seeing what St. Ambrose's is now, and thinking what it was in my time, and what an uncommon member of society I should have turned out if I had had the luck to have been here now instead of then, that makes me down in the mouth—more even than having to pull in the torpid instead of ...
— Tom Brown at Oxford • Thomas Hughes


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