| 释义 |
bad mouth, n. slang (orig. U.S.).
Also bad-mouth.
[bad a., tr. Vai da na ma or similar expressions in various Afr. and W. Indian languages.]
a. Esp. among Black speakers: a curse or spell.
1835W. G. Simms Partisan I. xv. 190 Maybe..he has an enemy, and would have a bad mouth put upon him. 1927R. E. Kennedy Gritny People 112 She..assured him that she would be the ‘las' person in dis worl' to put bad mouth on him an' roll any stone in his way.’ 1948L. D. Turner in Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. ix. 81 Employment [by the Gullahs] of groups of words for nouns..or other parts of speech (such as..a bad mouth ‘a curse’). 1970H. M. Hyatt Hoodoo i. 255, I have known of people that have had the record of saying that they could put a bad mouth on you.
b. Evil or slanderous talk; malicious gossip; severe criticism.
1970H. E. Roberts Third Ear 4/1 Bad mouth, the telling of stories that may be true, but which reflect adversely on a person's character or reputation. 1979Fortune 12 Mar. 149/2 The bad-mouth went out over the CB network. Every accident was blamed on the anti-skid brake. 1981Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 19 Mar. 5/7 Companies don't mind legitimate complaints. They don't want unhappy people telling their friends about shoddy products. Word of bad-mouth can kill them. |