What it means
Gob is a blunt way of saying your mouth, usually when someone’s talking too loud, mouthing off, or being cheeky. You’ll hear it in shut your gob, basically shut up, and in you’ve got a right gob on you for a mouthy person. It can also mean a spit or a wad of something, but the mouthy meaning is the classic.
Usage examples
"Oi, shut your gob, bruv. I’m tryna watch the footy and you’ve got a right gob on you. Let the commentators do the talking."
"Right, shut your gob during the speeches, gran, I love you but the bride is trying to thank her dad and you are explaining the cousin divorce to anyone within two tables."
"He has got a gob on him after one pint at the pub, suddenly an expert on Spurs, on politics, on the price of butter, and the bar staff start polishing glasses near the exit."
"If he don’t shut his gob for two minutes, I’m getting off at the next stop and walking."
"She’s only tiny but she’s got a proper gob on her when the ref makes a dodgy call."
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Where it comes from
This one’s properly old stock. Gob comes from Irish and Scottish Gaelic gob, meaning mouth or beak. It drifted into English a long time ago and stuck hard in British and Irish slang as a rough, blunt word for someone’s mouth. That same root also feeds bits like gobby and gobshite.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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