loose lip

English

US WWII poster

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

loose lip (plural loose lips)

1. (idiomatic, often pluralized) The practice or characteristic of being overly talkative, especially with respect to inadvertently revealing information which is private or confidential.
   • c. 1940, Slogan used by US government during World War II:

     Loose lips might sink ships.

   • 1985 June 3, Richard Schickel, “Cinema: Gliberated in Dreamland Fletch”, in Time:

     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.

   • 1996 August 25, Donald E. Westlake, “Tough Guys Don't Shut Up”, in New York Times, retrieved 29 May 2011:

     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.

Synonyms

• big mouth, loquaciousness

Derived terms

• loose-lipped
• loose lips sink ships

See also

• silence is golden
• talk out of turn

References

• “loose lips”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.