Dictionary

loose lip en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, qualifier:often pluralized) The practice or characteristic of being overly talkative, especially with respect to inadvertently revealing information which is private or confidential.
   • Loose lips might sink ships. c. 1940, Slogan used by US government during World War II
   • In the classic dramas of private investigation, the cheeky quip is the tough guy's challenge to toughness. In Fletch the quick, smartly paced gags somehow read as signs of vulnerability. . . . Every minute you expect the hero's loose lip to be turned into a fat one. 1985 June 3, Richard Schickel, “Cinema: Gliberated in Dreamland Fletch”, in Time:
   • Poor fellow, he had "cemented my reputation forever as a guy who tells too much truth." . . . But his loose lip has ultimately worked out for him. 1996 August 25, Donald E. Westlake, “Tough Guys Don't Shut Up”, in New York Times, retrieved 29 May 2011:

Forms

Deriveds

loose lips sink ships · loose-lipped

Relateds

talk out of turn · silence is golden

Synonyms

loquaciousness · big mouth