Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The fleshy, movable, muscular organ, attached in most vertebrates to the floor of the mouth, that is the principal organ of taste, an aid in chewing and swallowing, and, in humans, an important organ of speech.
- noun An analogous organ or part in invertebrate animals, as in certain insects or mollusks.
- noun The tongue of an animal, such as a cow, used as food.
- noun A spoken language or dialect.
- noun Speech; talk.
- noun The act or power of speaking.
- noun Speech or vocal sounds produced in a state of religious ecstasy.
- noun Style or quality of utterance.
- noun The bark or baying of a hunting dog that sees game.
- noun Something resembling a tongue in shape or function, as.
- noun The vibrating end of a reed in a wind instrument.
- noun A flame.
- noun The flap of material under the laces or buckles of a shoe.
- noun A spit of land; a promontory.
- noun A bell clapper.
- noun The harnessing pole attached to the front axle of a horse-drawn vehicle.
- noun A protruding strip along the edge of a board that fits into a matching groove on the edge of another board.
- intransitive verb Music To separate or articulate (notes played on a brass or wind instrument) by shutting off the stream of air with the tongue.
- intransitive verb To touch or lick with the tongue.
- intransitive verb To give (someone) a French-kiss.
- intransitive verb To provide (a board) with a tongue.
- intransitive verb To join by means of a tongue and groove.
- intransitive verb Archaic To scold.
- intransitive verb Music To articulate notes on a brass or wind instrument.
- intransitive verb To project.
- idiom (have/speak with) To speak deceitfully; prevaricate or lie.
- idiom (bite/hold) To be or keep silent.
- idiom (loosen (someone's) tongue) To cause (someone) to speak freely or carelessly or to divulge information.
- idiom (lose (one's) tongue) To lose the capacity to speak, as from shock.
- idiom (on the tip of (one's) tongue) On the verge of being recalled or expressed.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To chide; scold; reproach.
- To speak; utter.
- In playing on musical wind-instruments, to modify or interrupt the tone of by means of a stroke of the tongue, so as to produce a marcato or staccato effect, as in the flute, the cornet, etc. See
tonguing . Alsotip . - To join or fit together by means of a tongue and groove. See the phrase.
- To talk; prate: with indefinite it.
- In music, to use the tongue for the purpose of modifying sounds in playing the flute and some other wind-instruments.
- To run out; project: as, a point of land tongues out into the sea.
- noun The principal organ of the special sense of taste or the gustatory faculty; the lingual apparatus, or lingua.
- noun Specifically, in cookery, a beef's tongue prepared for the table: as, smoked tongue.
- noun In conchology, the lingual ribbon, or odontophore, bearing the radula, or rasping surface. a structure highly characteristic of those mollusks which have heads, as gastropods. See the technical names (with cuts under
radula and ribbon). - noun In entomology, some mouth-part or conformation of mouth-parts serving as a tongue or suggesting one; a proboscis; a haustellum; an antlia: as, the long spirally rolled tongue of a butterfly or moth; specifically, the central lobe of the ligula of a mandibulate insect. See the technical words, and cut under
haustellum . - noun In various figurative uses, the faculty or mode of speech; speech.
- noun The act or habit of speaking; utterance; discourse; sometimes, fluency of speech; talk.
- noun The manner of speaking as regards sound; voice; tone; specifically, in sporting language, the voice of a hound or other dog: as, to give tongue.
- noun The character of speech with regard to meaning or intention.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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P.ace the N. P., _long cord_, upon the lower cervical vertebræ, and then treat, _first_, with the _tongue_ instrument, P. P., in the mouth, as far back on the tongue as can be borne, three to five minutes.
A Newly Discovered System of Electrical Medication Daniel Clark
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It is produced at the middle or central part of the mouth, by forcing a slight, closely-squeezed current of Sounding Breath, through a small, smooth channel or opening made by forming _a gutter or scoop of the flattened point of the tongue_; while, at the same time, the tongue is applied at the edges to the teeth and gums.
The Continental Monthly, Vol 6, No 5, November 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy Various
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So you may perceive, I _have the use of my tongue_ & I tell her it is a good thing to have the use of my tongue.
Diary of Anna Green Winslow A Boston School Girl of 1771 Anna Green Winslow 1881
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On the whole, no man ought, for any cause, to speak lies, or have anything to do with _lies; _ but either hold his tongue, or speak a bit of the truth: that is the meaning of a _tongue, _ people used to know!
The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1834-1872, Vol II. Thomas Carlyle 1838
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Wherein the due government of the tongue consists, or when it may be said of any one in a moral and religious sense that he _bridleth his tongue_, I come now to consider.
Human Nature and Other Sermons Joseph Butler 1722
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The dialect of the Grödner Thal, called the Ladin tongue, is supposed to be directly derived from the original Latin at some date contemporary with the period of Roman rule.
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How he excites himself to the duty of praise (v. 8): Awake up my glory, that is, my tongue (our tongue is our glory, and never more so than when it is employed in praising God), or my soul, that must be first awakened; dull and sleepy devotions will never be acceptable to
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon) 1721
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He looked upon it that God girded him with gladness to the end that he might be the sweet psalmist of Israel (2 Sam.xxiii. 1), that his glory might sing praise to God, that is, his tongue (for our tongue is our glory, and never more so than when it is employed in praising God) or his soul, for that is our glory above the beasts, that must be employed in blessing the
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon) 1721
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Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.
Jim Wallis: MLK and the "Progressive Hunter" Jim Wallis 2010
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Often he followed these comic statements with what I call a tongue eraser: an action where the tongue visibly moves from one side of the mouth, signifying that this person does not like what he is saying.
bilby commented on the word tongue
Name of a village in northwest Scotland. Another one in Mali.
October 8, 2009
bilby commented on the word tongue
This WordNet definition was brought to you by the letter m.
October 8, 2009
reesetee commented on the word tongue
*tries to figure out how to use "mobile mass of muscular tissue covered with mucous membrane" in conversation*
*fails*
October 8, 2009
alexz commented on the word tongue
Also nautical
"Also a dangerous mass of ice projecting under water from an iceberg or floe nearly horizontally it was on one of these shelves that the Guardian frigate struck "
from the Sailors Word Book http://goo.gl/ZIhkR
January 18, 2013