all mouth and trousers

English

Alternative forms

• all mouth and no trousers

Etymology

mouth, meaning "talk" rather than action and trousers, presumably at the time of origin a reference to masculinity, either as trousers as a male item of clothing, or a reference to the genitals.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Adjective

all mouth and trousers (not comparable)

1. (Britain, idiomatic) Superficial, engaging in empty, boastful talk, but not of real substance.

Translations

superficial

• Catalan: molt soroll i poques nous
• Finnish: ei suuret sanat suuta halkaise (proverb)
• French: que de la gueule, rien dans le pantalon
• German: große Klappe, nichts dahinter
• Italian: tutto fumo e niente arrosto
• Russian: брехня́ (ru) f (brexnjá), пуста́я бо́чка гро́мче греми́т (pustája bóčka grómče gremít)

See also

• all hat and no cattle

References

• Michael Quinion (2004), “All mouth and trousers”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.