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, noun

British Dictionary definitions for bad-mouth

bad-mouth

verb

(tr) slang to speak unfavourably about