Brewer's: Mouth

Down in the mouth. (See under Down.)

His mouth was made,
he was trained or reduced to obedience, like a horse trained to the bit.

“At first, of course, the fireworker showed fight ... but in the end `his mouth was made,' his paces formed, and he became a very serviceable and willing animal.” —Le Fanu: House in the Churchyard, ch. xcix.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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