sb. pl. Forms: α. sing. 1 tang, 1–5 tange; pl. 1 tangan, 2–4 tangen; 4 tangs, (5 tangys, -is, tang(g)es, 6 Sc. tang(g)is, taingis, tayngis), 6– Sc. tangs, tayngs; 6 Sc. double pl. tangisis. β. sing. 1 tǫng, 3–5 tonge, (4 toenge, 5 tongge), (9 tong); pl. 3 tongen; 4 tunges, 4–5 tongys, 5 toonges, tongges, 5–7 tonges, (6 tonkes, thounges, 7 tungs), 7–8 tongues, 5– tongs. [OE. tang (str. f.), tange (wk. f.) = OLG. tanga (MDu. tanghe, Du. tang), OFris. tange, OHG. zanga str. fem. (MHG., Ger. zange), ON. tǫng str. f.,:—*tangu (Norw. tong, Swed. tång, Da. tang):—OTeut. *tangō- (also, with weak inflexion, tangōn-):—Indo-Eur. *dankā-, referred to the root *dak-, dank- to bite (Skr. damç, daç, Gr. δάκνειν); cf. OHG. zangar, MLG., LG. tanger, MDu. tangher sharp, biting.]
1. An implement consisting of two limbs or ‘legs’ connected by a hinge, pivot, or spring, by means of which their lower ends are brought together so as to grasp and take up objects which it is impossible or inconvenient to lift with the hand. Examples of different forms are seen in a smith’s tongs, domestic fire-tongs, and sugar-tongs.
A particular use or shape is often indicated by a prefixed word, as blacksmith’s t., curling-t., gas-fitter’s t., pipe t., sugar-t. When not otherwise particularized usually applied to fire-tongs. In early quots. often not distinguishable in sense from pincers or forceps.
† a. in sing. form tong. Obs.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (O.E.T.), 905. Forceps, tong.
a. 1000. Ags. Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 218/37. Delebra, tang. Ibid., 272/34. Forceps, tang.
c. 1050. Byrhtferth’s’ Handboc, in Anglia (1885), VIII. 325. Mid his gyldenan tange.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 156. Þu twengest þar mid so doþ a tonge.
c. 1305. St. Dunstan, 77, in E. E. P. (1862), 36. He droȝ forþ his tonge And leide in þe hote fur.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 1308. & het to brynge wiþ him anon anuylt, tange, & slegge.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. vi. 6. A cole, that with the toenge [1388 a tonge] he toc fro the auter.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 496/2. Tongge, fyyr instrument.
c. 1483. Caxton, Dialogues, 8/9. Ung estenelle, ung greyl, a tonge, a gredyron.
b. in pl. form with plural construction: the usual current use. Pair of tongs is used when qualification by a numeral or an indefinite article is wanted.
α. c. 890. trans. Bæda’s Hist., V. xiii. [xii.] (1890), 428. Hæfdon heo fyrene eaʓan … ond fyrene tangan him on handa hæfdon.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., II. 352. Woldon me ʓelæccan mid heora byrnendum tangum.
c. 1300. Tangen [see quot. c. 1290. in β].
1384–5. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 265. j par de Tangs. Ibid. (1412–3), 610. j pare belowys et tangys empt.
c. 1425. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 657/11. Hec forceps, tangges.
1483. Cath. Angl., 378/1. A paire of Tanges, jn plurali numero, tenalia.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lii. 14. The wyff … That with the taingis wald brack his schinnis.
1547. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 20, note. Tua pair of tayngis.
1595. Duncan, App. Etym. (E.D.S.), Forceps, tayngs.
1718. Ramsay, Christ’s Kirk Gr., III. iv. Her aunt a pair of tangs fush in.
1816. J. Boswell, etc., Justiciary Opera, 5. To seize on anither man’s geer (As the tangs ance a Highlandman fand).
1825. Jamieson, s.v. Tangs, ‘You fand that whar the Highlandman fand the tang’ S. Prov. [Cf. quot. 1721 in β.]
β. c. 1290. St. Brendan, 480, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 233. With tongen [Harl. MS. 2277 (c. 1300) tangen] and with hameres brenninde mani on.
1352–3. Ely Sacr. Rolls (1907), II. 155. In j pari de Tongys pro plumbario.
1392–3. Earl Derby’s Exp. (Camden), 158. Pro tunges et aliis necessariis.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 16144. And with thy Toonges pynche hem so.
1483. Act 1 Rich. III., c. 12 § 2. Andyrons, Cobbardes, Tongges, Fireforkes.
1495. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 205. Tongges of yron … j payre.
1530. Palsgr., 251/1. Payre of tonges, tenailies. Ibid., Payre of smythes tonges, gresses.
1531. Rec. St. Mary at Hill, 37. A payre of andi[r]onis and a payre of tonkes with a fyer Raike.
1586. Rates of Custome, E viij b. Tongs for fire the dosen vj. s.
1599. Acc. Bk. W. Wray, in Antiquary, XXXII. 243. One pair of thounges.
1605. Rowlands, Hell’s Broke Loose, 47. Their flesh torne from the bones with fiery tongs.
1614. Liber Depos. Archidiaconat. Colcestr., lf. 71 (MS.). To saye he would laye her on the pate with the tungs.
1663. Pepys, Diary, 7 Sept. Dogs, tongues, and shovells, for my wife’s closett.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 255. With Tongs they turn the Steel.
1721. Kelly, Scot. Prov., 383. You found it where the Highland Man found the Tongs.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 171. Grasping the tongs with the right hand a little below the middle.
1845. G. P. R. James, Arrah Neil, ii. He was as thin and spare, too, as a pair of tongs.
c. In pl. form tongs const. as sing.; with rare pl. tongisis, tongses, pairs of tongs. Chiefly Sc.
1489. Act. Dom. Conc. (1839), 132/1. Twa axis, a wowmill … a tangis, price xl d.
1542. Rec. Elgin (N. Spald. Cl., 1903), I. 71. The masterfull streking of Ellene Murray with ane tanggis.
1576. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 691, note. 2 pair of tangisis 3s. apiece.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., VII. (S.T.S.), II. 46. The rest of his body … the pynouris raue with an yrne tangs.
1708. Caldwell Papers (Maitl. Cl.), I. 216. I must also have a tongs and shovel.
1796. Burns, On Life, vii. Like a sheep-head on a tangs.
1849. W. Irving, Crayon Misc., 254. A relic … which, if I recollect right, he pronounced to have been a tongs.
d. in sing. form tong: One leg of a pair of tongs. humorous nonce-use.
1862. Thackeray, Philip, xxxii. He keeps a tong to the present day, and speaks very satirically regarding that relic.
1864. Daily Tel., 26 Aug. With the half of a pair of tongs, or perhaps I should say with a tong, in his tiny fist.
1897. in Westm. Gaz., 7 Dec., 4/1. The beetle trotted down the kitchen tong.
2. a. fig. and in phrases: e.g., not to touch with a pair of longs, expressing repugnance to have anything to do with.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pars. T., 481. Thanne stant Enuye and holdeth the hoote Iren vpon the herte of man with a peire of longe toonges of long rancour.
1579. Fulke, Refut. Rastel, 714. [It] maketh M. Rastel … to gnaw the tonges for anger.
1643. J. Caryl, Expos. Job ii. 8. A man would scarce touch such an one with a pair of Tongs.
a. 1688. Bunyan, Jerus. Sinner Saved (1886), 112. We are scarce for touching of the poor ones…, no not with a pair of tongs.
1828. Craven Gloss., s.v. Tangs, ‘He brades of a pair o’ tangs,’ this is applied to a person with long limbs.
1882. Miss Braddon, Mt. Royal, III. vii. 136. I wouldn’t touch it with a pair of tongs.
b. As used in burlesque music.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., IV. i. 32. Clowne. I haue a reasonable good eare in musicke. Let us haue the tongs and the bones.
1678. Rymer, Trag. Last Age, 139. The tintamar and twang of the Tongs and Jewstrumps.
1835. Dobson, Sign of Lyre, 123. Well, our immortal Shakespear owns The Oar preferred the ‘Tongs and Bones!’
c. Snapping tongs, a game: see quot.
1844. Barnes, Poems Rural Life, Gloss., Snappen tongs, a game of forfeits … [played] in a room in which are seats for all but one,… when the tongs are snapped all run to sit down, and the one that fails to get a seat pays a forfeit.
1847. in Halliwell.
d. Short for sugar-tongs, curling-tongs, oyster-tongs: see these words; also LAZY-TONGS.
1713. Lond. Gaz., No. 5086/3. 6 gilded Tea Spoons with Forks and Tongs.
1837. Thackeray, Ravenswing, i. He was twiddling the [curling-]tongs with which he had just operated on Walker.
1870. Standard, 19 Oct. A party of Maryland oystermen were caught sinking their tongs into the Virginia beds.
3. In various transferred and technical applications. † a. Name for an ancient surgical forceps: see quot. Obs. † b. A weeding-tool: see quot. Obs. c. The pincer-like organs of a scorpion. d. In a pile-engine, the forceps which grips the staple in the head of the ram. e. In diamond-cutting, a stand having at its upper end a vice-like device for holding the dop in which the diamond is imbedded for cutting. f. Railway. A pincer-like device for grasping the rail on which a vehicle is standing, thus holding it still (Forney, Car-builder’s Dict., 1884). g. ‘A name for pantaloons and roundabouts [short jackets] formerly in use in New England’ (Bartlett, Dict. Amer., 1848); a skeleton suit.
a. c. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, 35. Whiche y-do, be þe lure y-opned wiþ tonges so y-shape þat when þe vtward endes bene streyned togidre þe inner endes be opned & agaynward.
b. 1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 21. The chyefe instrument to wede with, is a paire of tonges made of wode, and in the farther ende it is nycked, to holde the wed faster.
c. 1608. Topsell, Serpents, 223. The sixt is like a Crabbe, and this is called by Elianus a flamant Scorpion, it is of a great body, and hath tonges and takers very solide and strong, like the Gramuell or Creuish.
d. 1776. G. Semple, Building in Water, 36. The Tongs are opened by the two inclined Planes. Ibid., 37. The Ram … with the Staple, that the Tongs take hold of.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 310. Forceps or tongs are lowered down speedily, and instantly of themselves again lay hold of the ram and lift it up.
g. 1845. S. Judd, Margaret, I. vi. The boys dressed in ‘tongs,’ a name for pantaloons or overalls, that had come into use.
4. Comb.: tongs-carriage, a carriage that supports the tongs used in glass-making, foundry-work and the like; tongsman, also tongman, one who uses the tongs in oyster-fishing (U.S.).
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 590. Glass-making…. Two powerful branches of iron united by a bolt, like two scissar blades,… form the tongs-carriage, which is mounted upon two wheels like a truck.
1887. Fisheries of U.S., Sect. v. II. 525. In midwinter, when the heavy planters are busy marketing their crops, the tongmen are idle, or are attending to their own little cove-beds.
1891. W. K. Brooks, Oyster, 140. They are exposed to the depredations of both tongmen and dredgers.
1891. Cent. Dict. (citing Davidson), Tongsman.
