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Glite Dictionary
to wash one's mouth out

to wash one's mouth out

5 7.4
To tell someone off for saying rude words, sometimes by putting soap in their mouth
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : lavarse la boca
  • Go down to the lavatory and wash your mouth out with this," she said.
  • wash your mouth out with soap
  • go wash your mouth out

Examples

  • You know, I once washed your mouth out with soap.

    Written on the Wind (1956)

  • His father told him to go wash his mouth out and sent him to bed.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Did your mother ever wash your mouth out with soap?

    Jagged Edge (1985)

  • We ought to wash your mouth out with soap, lady.

    Foxy Brown (1974)

  • I should wash your mouth out with soap.

    State of Grace (1990)

  • "You should wash your mouth out with soap."

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Now, you just go and wash your mouth out, Doris, and then get on with doing the dirty things.

    Basement Jack (2010)

  • Wash your mouth out.

    The Pirate Movie (1982)

  • She didn't tell you she was going to wash your mouth out with a bar of soap, did she?

    Blog text (27)

  • If you keep using that language, I will have to wash your mouth out with soap.

Synonyms

to chew out
vsto wash one's mouth out
  • Informal
13 7.0

Scold someone angrily in front of others

is less angry and more a mild humorous rebuke
to wash someone's mouth out with soap
vsto wash one's mouth out
  • Informal
1 8.8

To punish someone by putting soap in their mouth for swearing

is milder and often humorous rather than a real physical punishment
to brush down
vsto wash one's mouth out
  • Informal
7.9

To tell someone off angrily

is used more lightly and often as a mild joking rebuke
to bawl out
vsto wash one's mouth out
  • Informal
6.7

Shout loudly at someone because they did something wrong

is milder and often joking rather than loud or severe

How Harsh

to punish
821 1.0
to reprimand
  • Formal
33 6.1
to scold
55 2.2
to wash one's mouth out
  • Informal
5 7.4
to chide
22 7.0
to warn
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

wash one's mouth out infinitive
washed one's mouth out past
washed one's mouth out past participle
washing one's mouth out present participle
washes one's mouth out third person singular

Morphology

wash + one's + mouth + out

The constituents 'wash' + 'mouth' + 'out' transparently suggest cleaning the mouth, so a learner could infer a literal action; however the conventionalized meaning of punishing or reprimanding someone for using offensive language is a pragmatic/cultural extension not directly predictable from those parts. Because the punitive/admonitory sense requires extra cultural knowledge (e.g. 'wash one's mouth out with soap'), the expression is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Wash one's mouth out may come from a simple old punishment where a child who said a rude word had to wash their mouth out with soap; the strong image of cleaning the mouth for bad language makes the phrase easy to remember. That's why today it means 'to scold or punish someone, often jokingly, for saying bad words'.