Dictionary

poormouth en · NOUN

Etymology

From poor + mouth.

Meanings

1. A poor (impoverished) person, or one who claims to be so; especially, one who cries poormouth (conspicuously makes this claim).
   • Two long-haul truckers shared space at the counter with two bachelor farmers. They were talking freight rates and futures prices and the truckers were having a good year. The two farmers weren't. They were notorious poormouths, those two, and too stingy to ever get married. The truckers seemed unattached but you never could tell about those guys. 2003, Rod Cochran, Bear Hollow, Infinity, →ISBN, page 227:
   • Writing in The Observer the other week about his brief visit to Montreal, Mr. St. John Ervine, in his characteristically direct and concise fashion, expresses himself in a practical way that should not be without effect. […] "This is no continent for poormouths, for people who cannot do this or that because their unions won't let them[…] 1929 March 23, St. John Greer Ervine, quotee, “Book and Periodical News and Notes [column]”, in The Newspaper World, number 1628, page 8:

Forms

poormouth en · VERB

Etymology

From poor + mouth.

Meanings

1. (ambitransitive, informal) To claim to be poor.
   • Joking dialogue in the opening scene (Putnam and Ellen at Putnam's house) gives the impression that Putnam doesn't have a lot of money. Or maybe he just poormouths himself to give Ellen that wrong impression: His ride is a hot-off-the-assembly-line Ford Crestline Sunliner, "newest and smartest car under the sun!" and "a 'top-downer's delight'" (vintage car ad). 2017, Tom Weaver, David Schecter, Robert J. Kiss, Steve Kronenberg, “It Came from Outer Space (1953)”, in Universal Terrors, 1951-1955: Eight Classic Horror and Science Fiction Films, McFarland, →ISBN, page 135:
   • On the other hand one does not want to arrive “poor-mouthing it” in some outrageous turtleneck and West Eighth Street bell-jean combination, as if one is “funky” and of “the people.” 1970 June 8, Tom Wolfe, “Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny's”, in New York Magazine:
2. (rare, transitive) To badmouth (someone or something).
   • […] of course, such spirited defense of their ships is, up to a point, praiseworthy. And certainly any skipper who poormouths his own ship should be fired. On the other hand, the mature naval officer, if he is to make the most effective contributions possible to his Navy over the years, both at sea and ashore, must develop a rational, critical[…] 1973, Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute, volume 99, United States Naval Institute, page 96:

Forms

Relateds

cap in hand · impoverished

Synonyms

cry poormouth

Translations (4)

fi väittää olevansa köyhä (claim to be poor) · cmn 哭窮 /哭穷 (claim to be poor) · ga déan béal bocht (claim to be poor) · ru прибедняться (claim to be poor)