aprire bocca

Italian

Etymology

Literally, “to open mouth”.

Verb

aprìre bocca (first-person singular present àpro bocca, first-person singular past historic aprìi bocca or apèrsi bocca, past participle apèrto bocca, auxiliary avére)

1. (idiomatic) to open one's mouth
   • 2020, Barack Obama, chapter 15, in Chicca Galli, Paolo Lucca, Giuseppe Maugeri, transl., Una terra promessa [A Promised Land], Garzanti Libri:

     A detta di Toot, era rimasto così scosso dalle sue esperienze al fronte che, una volta tornato a casa, per sei mesi quasi non aveva aperto bocca.

     According to Toot, he'd been so shaken by his experiences as a soldier that he barely spoke for six months after returning home.

     (literally, “According to Toot, he remained so shaken by his experiences at the front that, once having returned home, for six months he almost never opened his mouth.”)