Tongue

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tʌŋ/
• IPA: /tÉ’Å‹/ (UK, rare)
• Rhymes: -ʌŋ

Origin

From Middle English tonge, tunge, tung, from Old English tunge, from Proto-Germanic *tungǭ ("tongue") (compare West Frisian tonge, Dutch tong, German Zunge, Danish tunge, Swedish tunga), from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s (compare Irish teanga, Latin lingua, Tocharian A/B känt/kantwo, Lithuanian liežùvis, Polish język 'language, tongue', Armenian լեզու, Sanskrit जिह्वा).

Alternative forms

• tounge (obsolete, now considered a misspelling); tung (informal/eye dialect); tong, tonge, toong, toongue, toung, toungue, tunge obsolete

Full definition of tongue

Noun

1. The flexible muscular organ in the mouth that is used to move food around, for tasting and that is moved into various positions to modify the flow of air from the lungs in order to produce different sounds in speech.
2. Any similar organ, such as the lingual ribbon, or odontophore, of a mollusk; the proboscis of a moth or butterfly; or the lingua of an insect.
3. A language.He was speaking in his native tongue.
4. The power of articulate utterance; speech generally.
• Drydenparrots imitating human tongue
5. (obsolete) Discourse; fluency of speech or expression.
• L'EstrangeMuch tongue and much judgment seldom go together.
6. (obsolete) Honourable discourse; eulogy.
• Beaumont and FletcherShe was born noble; let that title find her a private grave, but neither tongue nor honour.
7. (religion, often in the plural) Glossolalia.
8. In a shoe, the flap of material that goes between the laces and the foot, so called because it resembles a tongue in the mouth.
9. Any large or long physical protrusion on an automotive or machine part or any other part that fits into a long groove on another part.
10. A projection, or slender appendage or fixture.the tongue of a buckle, or of a balance
11. A long, narrow strip of land, projecting from the mainland into a sea or lake.
12. The pole of a vehicle; especially, the pole of an ox cart, to the end of which the oxen are yoked.
13. The clapper of a bell.
14. (figuratively) An individual point of flame from a fire.
• 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine Chapter XINow, in this decadent age the art of fire-making had been altogether forgotten on the earth. The red tongues that went licking up my heap of wood were an altogether new and strange thing to Weena.
15. A small sole (type of fish).
16. (nautical) A short piece of rope spliced into the upper part of standing backstays, etc.; also, the upper main piece of a mast composed of several pieces.
17. (music) A reed.

Synonyms

• (language) language, lingo colloquial

Verb

1. (music, ambitransitive) On a wind instrument, to articulate a note by starting the air with a tap of the tongue, as though by speaking a 'd' or 't' sound (alveolar plosive).Playing wind instruments involves tonguing on the reed or mouthpiece.
2. (slang) To manipulate with the tongue, as in kissing or oral sex.
3. To protrude in relatively long, narrow sections.a soil horizon that tongues into clay
4. To join by means of a tongue and groove.to tongue boards together
5. (intransitive, obsolete) To talk; to prate.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To speak; to utter.
• Shakespearesuch stuff as madmen tongue
7. (transitive, obsolete) To chide; to scold.
• ShakespeareHow might she tongue me.

Derived terms

Anagrams

• tounge