(~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
Your ~ is the area of your face where your lips are or the space behind your lips where your teeth and tongue are.
She clamped her hand against her ~...
His ~ was full of peas.
N-COUNT: oft poss N
-~ed
He straightened up and looked at me, open-~ed.
COMB in ADJ
2.
You can say that someone has a particular kind of ~ to indicate that they speak in a particular kind of way or that they say particular kinds of things.
You’ve got such a crude ~!
N-COUNT: with supp, oft adj N
-~ed
...Simon, their smart-~ed teenage son.
COMB in ADJ
3.
The ~ of a cave, hole, or bottle is its entrance or opening.
By the ~ of the tunnel he bent to retie his lace.
= entrance
N-COUNT: usu with supp, oft N of n
-~ed
He put the flowers in a wide-~ed blue vase.
COMB in ADJ
4.
The ~ of a river is the place where it flows into the sea.
...the town at the ~ of the River Dart.
N-COUNT: usu with supp
5.
If you ~ something, you form words with your lips without making any sound.
I ~ed a goodbye and hurried in behind Momma...
‘It’s for you,’ he ~ed.
VERB: V n, V with quote
6.
If you ~ something, you say it, especially without believing it or without understanding it.
I ~ed some sympathetic platitudes...
VERB: V n
7.
If you have a number of ~s to feed, you have the responsibility of earning enough money to feed and look after that number of people.
He had to feed his family on the equivalent of four hundred pounds a month and, with five ~s to feed, he found this very hard.
PHRASE: N inflects
8.
If you say that someone does not open their ~, you are emphasizing that they never say anything at all.
Sometimes I hardly dare open my ~...
PHRASE: V and N inflect, with brd-neg emphasis
9.
If you keep your ~ shut about something, you do not talk about it, especially because it is a secret.
You wouldn’t be here now if she’d kept her ~ shut.
PHRASE: V and N inflect
10.
to live hand to ~: see hand
heart in your ~: see heart
from the horse’s ~: see horse
to put your money where your ~ is: see money
shut your ~: see shut
to be born with a silver spoon in your ~: see spoon
word of ~: see word