bad-mouth
or bad·mouth
[ bad-mouth or, sometimes, -mouth ]
/ ˈbædˌmaʊθ or, sometimes, -ˌmaʊð /
verb (used with object), bad-mouthed, bad-mouth·ing.
Slang.
to speak critically and often disloyally of; disparage: Why do you bad-mouth your family so much?
Origin of bad-mouth
1935–40; originally a curse, spell (the sense recorded in Gullah); compare Vai (Mande language of Liberia and Sierra Leone)
dà nyà mà curse, literally, bad mouth
OTHER WORDS FROM bad-mouth
bad-mouth·er, nounWords nearby bad-mouth
bad sort, a,
bad taste,
bad time,
bad trip,
bad trot,
bad-mouth,
bad-tempered,
bada-bing,
badajoz,
badakhshan,
badalona
British Dictionary definitions for bad-mouth
bad-mouth
verb
(tr) slang
to speak unfavourably about