Definitions for: Tongue


[n] metal striker that hangs inside a bell and makes a sound by hitting the side
[n] the flap of material under the laces of a shoe or boot
[n] a mobile mass of muscular tissue covered with mucous membrane and located in the oral cavity
[n] a human written or spoken language used by a community; opposed to e.g. a computer language
[n] a manner of speaking; "he spoke with a thick tongue"; "she has a glib tongue"
[n] the tongue of certain animals used as meat
[n] a narrow strip of land that juts out into the sea
[n] any long thin projection that is transient; "tongues of flame licked at the walls"; "rifles exploded quick knives of fire into the dark"
[v] lick or explore with the tongue
[v] articulate by tonguing, as on wind instruments



Webster (1913) Definition: 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, 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, 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.

Synonyms: clapper, clapper, glossa, knife, lingua, natural language, spit

Antonyms: artificial language

See Also: Afrasian, Afrasian language, Afroasiatic, Afroasiatic language, American Indian, American-Indian language, Amerind, Amerindian language, articulator, Austro-Asiatic, Austronesian, Austronesian language, Basque, beef tongue, bell, boot, calf's tongue, cape, Cassite, Caucasian, Caucasian language, creole, delivery, double tongue, Dravidian, Dravidian language, Dravidic, Elamite, Elamitic, Eskimo-Aleut, Eskimo-Aleut language, first language, flap, gustatory organ, Hamito-Semitic, Indian, Indo-European, Indo-European language, Indo-Hittite, Kassite, Khoisan, Khoisan language, language, lap, lick, linguistic communication, manner of speaking, maternal language, mother tongue, mouth, Munda-Mon-Khmer, ness, Niger-Kordofanian, Niger-Kordofanian language, Nilo-Saharan, Nilo-Saharan language, oral cavity, oral fissure, organ, organs, Papuan, Papuan language, pharynx, play, projection, rima oris, sand, sharp tongue, shoe, Sino-Tibetan, Sino-Tibetan language, speech, spiel, striker, Susian, taste bud, tastebud, throat, tonal language, tone language, triple-tongue, Ural-Altaic, variety meat

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