Tongue Definition | Definition of Tongue at Dictionary.com

tongue

[tuhng]

,noun, verb tongued, tongu⋅ing.

–noun

1.	Anatomy. the usually movable organ in the floor of the mouth in humans and most vertebrates, functioning in eating, in tasting, and, in humans, in speaking.

2.	Zoology. an analogous organ in invertebrate animals.

3.	the tongue of an animal, as an ox, beef, or sheep, used for food, often prepared by smoking or pickling.

4.	the human tongue as the organ of speech: No tongue must ever tell the secret.

5.	the faculty or power of speech: a sight no tongue can describe.

6.	speech or talk, esp. mere glib or empty talk.

7.	manner or character of speech: a flattering tongue.

8.	the language of a particular people, region, or nation: the Hebrew tongue.

9.	a dialect.

10.	(in the Bible) a people or nation distinguished by its language.

11.	tongues, speech, often incomprehensible, typically uttered during moments of religious ecstasy. Compare speaking in tongues, glossolalia.

12.	an object that resembles an animal's tongue in shape, position, or function.

13.	a strip of leather or other material under the lacing or fastening of a shoe.

14.	a piece of metal suspended inside a bell that strikes against the side producing a sound; clapper.

15.	a vibrating reed or similar structure in a musical instrument, as in a clarinet, or in part of a musical instrument, as in an organ reed pipe.

16.	the pole extending from a carriage or other vehicle between the animals drawing it.

17.	a projecting strip along the center of the edge or end of a board, for fitting into a groove in another board.

18.	a narrow strip of land extending into a body of water; cape.

19.	a section of ice projecting outward from the submerged part of an iceberg.

20.	Machinery. a long, narrow projection on a machine.

21.	that part of a railroad switch that is shifted to direct the wheels of a locomotive or car to one or the other track of a railroad.

22.	the pin of a buckle, brooch, etc.

–verb (used with object)

23.	to articulate (tones played on a clarinet, trumpet, etc.) by strokes of the tongue.

24.

Carpentry.

a.	to cut a tongue on (a board).

b.	to join or fit together by a tongue-and-groove joint.

25.	to touch with the tongue.

26.	to articulate or pronounce.

27.

Archaic.

a.	to reproach or scold.

b.	to speak or utter.

–verb (used without object)

28.	to tongue tones played on a clarinet, trumpet, etc.

29.	to talk, esp. idly or foolishly; chatter; prate.

30.	to project like a tongue.

—Idioms

31.	find one's tongue, to regain one's powers of speech; recover one's poise: She wanted to say something, but couldn't find her tongue.

32.

give tongue,

a.	Fox Hunting. (of a hound) to bay while following a scent.

b.	to utter one's thoughts; speak: He wouldn't give tongue to his suspicions.

33.	hold one's tongue, to refrain from or cease speaking; keep silent.

34.	lose one's tongue, to lose the power of speech, esp. temporarily.

35.

on the tip of one's (or the) tongue,

a.	on the verge of being uttered.

b.	unable to be recalled; barely escaping one's memory: The answer was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn't think of it.

36.	slip of the tongue, a mistake in speaking, as an inadvertent remark.

37.	(with) tongue in cheek, ironically or mockingly; insincerely.

Origin:
bef. 900; (n.) ME tunge, OE; c. D tong, G Zunge, ON tunga, Goth tuggo; akin to L lingua (OL dingua); (v.) ME tungen to scold, deriv. of the n.

Related forms:

tongueless, adjective

tonguelike, adjective

Tongue River

a river in N Wyoming and SE Montana, flowing NE from the Bighorn Mountains to the Yellowstone River. 265 mi. (426 km) long.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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tongue (tŭng)

1. 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.
2. An analogous organ or part in invertebrate animals, as in certain insects or mollusks.
3. Speech; talk: If there is goodness in your heart, it will come to your tongue.
4. The act or power of speaking: She had no tongue to answer.
5. tongues Speech or vocal sounds produced in a state of religious ecstasy.
6. Style or quality of utterance: her sharp tongue.
7. The vibrating end of a reed in a wind instrument.
8. A flame.
9. The flap of material under the laces or buckles of a shoe.
10. A spit of land; a promontory.
11. A bell clapper.
12. The harnessing pole attached to the front axle of a horse-drawn vehicle.
The tongue of an animal, such as a cow, used as food.
A spoken language or dialect.
1. Speech; talk: If there is goodness in your heart, it will come to your tongue.
2. The act or power of speaking: She had no tongue to answer.
3. tongues Speech or vocal sounds produced in a state of religious ecstasy.
4. Style or quality of utterance: her sharp tongue.
5. The vibrating end of a reed in a wind instrument.
6. A flame.
7. The flap of material under the laces or buckles of a shoe.
8. A spit of land; a promontory.
9. A bell clapper.
10. The harnessing pole attached to the front axle of a horse-drawn vehicle.
The bark or baying of a hunting dog that sees game: The dog gave tongue when the fox came through the hedge.
Something resembling a tongue in shape or function, as:
1. The vibrating end of a reed in a wind instrument.
2. A flame.
3. The flap of material under the laces or buckles of a shoe.
4. A spit of land; a promontory.
5. A bell clapper.
6. The harnessing pole attached to the front axle of a horse-drawn vehicle.
A protruding strip along the edge of a board that fits into a matching groove on the edge of another board.

v. tongued, tongu·ing, tongues

v. tr.

Music To separate or articulate (notes played on a brass or wind instrument) by shutting off the stream of air with the tongue.
To touch or lick with the tongue.
1. To provide (a board) with a tongue.
2. To join by means of a tongue and groove.
Archaic To scold.

v. intr.

Music To articulate notes on a brass or wind instrument.
To project: a spit of land tonguing into the bay.

[Middle English, from Old English tunge; see dghū- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Tongue

Tongue\, n. [OE. tunge, tonge, AS. tunge; akin to OFries. tunge, D. tong, OS. tunga, G. zunge, OHG. zunga, Icel. & Sw. tunga, Dan tunge, Goth. tugg[=o], OL. dingua, L. lingua. [root]243 Cf.Language, Lingo. ]

1. (Anat.) an organ situated in the floor of the mouth of most vertebrates and connected with the hyoid arch.

Note: The tongue is usually muscular, mobile, and free at one extremity, and in man other mammals is the principal organ of taste, aids in the prehension of food, in swallowing, and in modifying the voice as in speech.

To make his English sweet upon his tongue. --Chaucer.

2. The power of articulate utterance; speech.

Parrots imitating human tongue. --Dryden.

3. Discourse; fluency of speech or expression.

Much tongue and much judgment seldom go together. --L. Estrange.

4. Honorable discourse; eulogy. [Obs.]

She was born noble; let that title find her a private grave, but neither tongue nor honor. --Beau. & Fl.

5. A language; the whole sum of words used by a particular nation; as, the English tongue. --Chaucer.

Whose tongue thou shalt not understand. --Deut. xxviii. 49.

To speak all tongues. --Milton.

6. Speech; words or declarations only; -- opposed to thoughts or actions.

My little children, let us love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. --1 John iii. 18.

7. A people having a distinct language.

A will gather all nations and tongues. --Isa. lxvi. 18.

8. (Zo["o]l.) (a) The lingual ribbon, or odontophore, of a mollusk. (b) The proboscis of a moth or a butterfly. (c) The lingua of an insect.

9. (Zo["o]l.) Any small sole.

10. That which is considered as resembing an animal's tongue, in position or form. Specifically: (a) A projection, or slender appendage or fixture; as, the tongue of a buckle, or of a balance.

(b) A projection on the side, as of a board, which fits into a groove. (c) A point, or long, narrow strip of land, projecting from the mainland into a sea or a lake. (d) The pole of a vehicle; especially, the pole of an ox cart, to the end of which the oxen are yoked. (e) The clapper of a bell. (f) (Naut.) 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. (g) (Mus.) Same as Reed, n., 5.

To hold the tongue, to be silent.

Tongue bone (Anat.), the hyoid bone.

Tongue grafting. See under Grafting.

Syn: Language; speech; expression. See Language.

Tongue

Tongue\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tongued; p. pr. & vb. n. Tonguing.]

1. To speak; to utter. "Such stuff as madmen tongue." --Shak.

2. To chide; to scold.

How might she tongue me. --Shak.

3. (Mus.) To modulate or modify with the tongue, as notes, in playing the flute and some other wind instruments.

4. To join means of a tongue and grove; as, to tongue boards together.

Tongue

Tongue\, v. i. 1. To talk; to prate. --Dryden.

2. (Mus.) To use the tongue in forming the notes, as in playing the flute and some other wind instruments.

Language Translation for : tongue

Spanish: lengua,

German: die Zunge,

Japanese: 舌

More Translations »

tongue

O.E. tunge "organ of speech, speech, language," from P.Gmc. *tungon (cf. O.S., O.N. tunga, O.Fris. tunge, M.Du. tonghe, Du. tong, O.H.G. zunga, Ger. Zunge, Goth. tuggo), from PIE *dnghwa- (cf. L. lingua "tongue, speech, language," from Old L. dingua; O.Ir. tenge, Welsh tafod, Lith. liezuvis, O.C.S. jezyku). The substitution of M.E. -o- for O.E. -u- before -m- or -n- was a scribal habit (cf. some, monk, etc.) to avoid misreading the letters in the old style hand, which jammed them together; and the spelling of the ending of the word apparently is a 14c. attempt to indicate proper pronunciation, but the result is "neither etymological nor phonetic, and is only in a very small degree historical" [OED]. Meaning "foreign language" is from 1535. The verb meaning "to touch with the tongue, lick" is attested from 1687. Tongue-tied is first recorded 1529; tongue-in-cheek (adj.) is recorded from 1933, from phrase to speak with one's tongue in one's cheek "to speak insincerely" (1748), which somehow must have been suggestive of sly irony or humorous insincerity, but the exact notion is obscure.

Main Entry: tongue
Pronunciation: 't&[ng]
Function: noun
: a process of the floor of the mouth that is attached basally to the hyoid bone, that consistsessentially of a mass of extrinsic muscle attaching its base to other parts, intrinsic muscle by which parts of the structure move in relation to each other, and an epithelial covering rich in sensoryend organs and small glands, and that functions especially in taking and swallowing food and as a speech organ

tongue (tŭng)
n.
A mobile mass of muscular tissue that is covered with mucous membrane, occupies much of the cavity of the mouth, forms part of its floor, bears the organ of taste, and assists in chewing, swallowing, and speech.

tongue (tŭng) Pronunciation Key

A muscular organ in most vertebrates that is usually attached to the bottom of the mouth. In snakes, the tongue is used as a sense organ. In frogs, the tongue is chiefly used to capture prey. In mammals, the tongue is the main organ of taste and is an important organ of digestion. In humans, the tongue is used to produce speech.
A similar organ in certain invertebrate animals.

tongue

In addition to the idioms beginning with tongue, also see bite one's tongue; cat got someone's tongue; hold one's tongue; keep a civil tongue; on the tip of one's tongue; slip of the lip (tongue).

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