run off at the mouth

run off at the mouth

1. To speak without discretion; to speak too loudly or freely, especially about sensitive topics or information. We would have gotten away with our plan if your dumb cousin hadn't started running off at the mouth all over town. I figured it went without saying that I didn't want to talk about my divorce at Daniel's wedding, but you just had to go and run off at the mouth like that!

2. To be annoyingly or overbearingly talkative, especially in a bragging or boastful manner. There's some guy at the other end of the bar running off at the mouth about how far he can throw a football.

See also: mouth, off, run

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

run off at the mouth

Sl. to talk too much. I wish you would stop running off at the mouth. Tom runs off at the mouth too much. I wish he would temper his remarks.

See also: mouth, off, run

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

run off at the mouth

Talk incessantly, babble, as in Wilbur is always running off at the mouth about his investments. This idiom transfers a flow of water to an unending flow of words. [Slang; c. 1900]

See also: mouth, off, run

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

run off at the mouth

talk excessively or indiscreetly. North American informal

See also: mouth, off, run

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

run off at the ˈmouth

(American English, informal) talk too much, in a way that is not sensible: I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to run off at the mouth like that.

See also: mouth, off, run

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

run off at the mouth

in. to talk too much; to have diarrhea of the mouth. Tom runs off at the mouth too much. I wish he would temper his remarks.

See also: mouth, off, run

McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

run off at the mouth, to

To talk incessantly. The image conveyed is that of a river of words flowing ceaselessly from someone’s mouth, a case of logorrhea (verbal diarrhea). An American slang term dating from about 1900, it was defined in a 1909 issue of Dialect Notes. “I’m a pig coming over here and running off at the mouth,” wrote Alison Lurie (Love and Friendship, 1962).

See also: off, run, to

The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer