Tang

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tæŋ/
• Rhymes: -æŋ

From Middle English tang ("serpent's tongue", "extension of blade"), from Old Norse tangi ("pointed metal tool"), perhaps related to tunga ("tongue"). But see also Old Dutch tanger ("sharp", "tart", "pinching")

Full definition of tang

Noun

1. (obsolete) tongue
• 1667, , Sauny the Scot: Or, the Taming of the Shrew, Act V,Sauny Hear ye, sir; could not ye mistake, and pull her tang out instead of her teeth?
2. A refreshingly sharp aroma or flavor
• 1904, O._Henry,The miraculous air, heady with ozone and made memorably sweet by leagues of wild flowerets, gave tang and savour to the breath.
3. A strong or offensive taste; especially, a taste of something extraneous to the thing itself.Wine or cider has a tang of the cask.
4. (figuratively) A sharp, specific flavor or tinge
• FullerSuch proceedings had a strong tang of tyranny.
• Jeffreya cant of philosophism, and a tang of party politics
• 1913, Paul_Laurence_Dunbar,What, was it I who bared my heart
  Through unrelenting years,
  And knew the sting of misery's dart,
  The tang of sorrow's tears?
5. A projecting part of an object by means of which it is secured to a handle, or to some other part; anything resembling a tongue in form or position
6. The part of a knife, fork, file, or other small instrument, which is inserted into the handle
7. The projecting part of the breech of a musket barrel, by which the barrel is secured to the stock
8. The part of a sword blade to which the handle is fastened
9. The tongue of a buckle
10. A group of saltwater fish from the Acanthuridae family, especially the Zebrasoma genus, also known as the surgeonfish.

Synonyms

• bite
• piquancy
• spiciness

Antonyms

• blandness
• dullness

Derived terms

imitative

Noun

1. A sharp, twanging sound; an unpleasant tone; a twang

Verb

1. (dated, beekeeping) To strike two metal objects together loudly in order to persuade a swarm of honeybees to land so it may be captured by the beekeeper.Eva Crane, The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting, Taylor & Francis (1999), ISBN 0415924677, page 239.Hilda M. Ransome, The Sacred Bee in Ancient Times and Folklore, Courier Dover Publications (2004), ISBN 048643494X, page 225.
2. To make a ringing sound; to ring.Let thy tongue tang arguments of state. — Shakespeare.

Probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Danish tang ("seaweed"), Swedish tång, Icelandic þang

Noun

1. (rare) A coarse blackish seaweed (Fuscus nodosus)

From poontang by shortening

Noun

1. (vulgar slang) The vagina; intercourse with a woman
• 2002, Lynn Breedlove, Godspeed, St. Martin's Griffin, ISBN 0-312-31363-2, page 9,The guys like to look at her tang, because that's how they are ...

Anagrams

• gnat, Gnat