Tongue sb.

Forms: 1–6 tunge, (3 tunke, tonke), 3–6, 7 Sc. tonge, (4 tungge, tongge), 3–8 tounge, 4 Sc. towng, -e, 4–6 tung (also 8 Sc.), Sc. twng, 4–7 toung, tong, (5 tounghe), 5–7 toong, (6 toongue, 6–7 toungue), 5– tongue. [OE. and ME. tunge wk. f. = OFris. tunge, OS. tunga (MLG., LG. tunge, MDu. tonghe, Du. tong), OHG. zunga, zunka (MHG., Ger. zunge), ON. tunga (Da., Norw. tunge, Sw. tunga), Goth. tuggô:—OTeut. *tungôn-, held to be cogn. with L. lingua tongue, for older *dingua (as lacrima:—dacrima: see TEAR sb.¹).

  The natural mod.Eng. repr. of OE. tunge would be tung, as in lung, rung, sung (and as the word is actually pronounced); but the ME. device of writing on for un brought in the alternative tonge with variants tounge, townge; app. the effort to show that the pronunciation was not (tundʓ(e) led to the later tounghe, toungue, tongue, although it is true that these hardly appeared before final e was becoming mute, so that its simple omission would have been equally effective. The spelling tongue is thus neither etymological nor phonetic, and is only in a very small degree historical.]

  I.  The bodily member.

  1.  An organ, possessed by man and by most vertebrates, occupying the floor of the mouth, and attached at its base to the hyoid bone; often protrusible and freely movable. In its development in man and the higher mammals, it is tapering, blunt-tipped, muscular, soft and fleshy, important in taking in and swallowing food, also as the principal organ of taste, and in man of articulate speech.

  In some mammals, as the ant-eaters, it is attenuated, long, and worm-like; in most birds it is pointed, hard, and horny; in fishes, hard and immovable; in snakes and many lizards, cylindrical, slender, and forked, and an important tactile organ; in some amphibia, it is fixed at the front and free at the hinder end, and (as also in chameleons) used in licking up their prey.

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xliii. 309. Ðætte he ʓewæte his ytemestan finger on wættre, & mid ðæm ʓecele mine tungan.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., II. 272. Do hwon on þine tungan.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 181. Teð hine grindeð, tunge hine swoleȝeð.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 372. And atter on is tunge cliuen.

c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 206/206. For Anguische þe eorþe heo freten, and hore tongene gnowen al-so.

13[?].  Cursor M., 16767 + 15 (Cott.). He tast it with tonge Bot þer-of toke he noght.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 29. Crist touchide his tonge … and þe bonde of his tonge was opened for to speke. Ibid. (c. 1380), Wks. (1880), 110. He schal make his tounge cleue faste to þe roof of his mouþ.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xxiii. (Bodl. MS.). Soune … is yschape with þe wraaste of þe tunge and þanne wise men clepeþ it a voice.

1530.  Palsgr., 284/1. Tunge to speke with, langue.

1604.  Shaks., Oth., II. iii. 221. I had rather haue this tongue cut from my mouth.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 666. A Snake … Erect, and brandishing his forky Tongue.

1828.  Stark, Elem. Nat. Hist., I. 29. The tongue in the Mammalia is always fleshy, and attached to the hyoid bone, which bone is suspended by ligaments to the cranium.

1831.  R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 586. The Tongue, a symmetrical organ,… situated in the interior of the mouth, extending from the hyoid bone and epiglottis to behind the incisive teeth.

  b.  In reference to invertebrate animals, applied to various organs or parts of the mouth having some of the functions of the tongue of vertebrates, or some analogy to it.

1753.  Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Tongue of a Mussel,… an organ by means of which it spins a sort of threads … to fix itself to the rocks by.

1826.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. 358. Lingua (the Tongue). The organ situated within the Labium or emerging from it, by which insects in many cases collect their food and pass it down to the Pharynx.

1870.  Rolleston, Anim. Life, Introd. 87. ‘Odontophorous’ Mollusca … possessing the peculiar dentigerous rasping organ known as the tongue.

  c.  Erroneously regarded as the ‘stinging organ.’

1581.  J. Hamilton, in Cath. Tractates (S.T.S.), 78/30. Venemous serpentis to stang thame vith the fyrie edge of thair tungis.

1595.  Shaks., John, III. i. 258. France, thou maist hold a serpent by the tongue. Ibid. (1599), Much Ado, V. i. 90, Villaines, That dare as well answer a man indeede, As I dare take a serpent by the tongue.

  2.  A figure or representation of this organ. a. A symbolic figure or appearance as of a tongue, as those that appeared on the day of Pentecost.

[c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., I. 314. And wæs æteowed bufon heora ælcum swylce fyrene tungan.]

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 89. Biforan heore elche swilc hit were furene tungen.

1382.  Wyclif, Acts ii. 3. And tungis dyuersely partid as fyer apperiden to hem.

1526.  Tindale, Acts ii. 3. And there apered vnto them cloven tonges, as they had bene fyre … and they … began to speake with other tonges.

a. 1740.  Watts, Remnants of Time, xi[i]. On that day when the tongues of fire sat on his twelve apostles.

1792.  Haweis, Hymn, ‘Enthroned on high,’ ii. Though on our heads no tongues of fire Their wondrous powers impart.

  b.  A delineated or artificial figure of a tongue.

1488–92.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 81. A grete serpent toung set with gold, perle and precious stanes.

1536.  Register of Riches, in Antiq. Sarisb. (1771), 199. Having … two white Leopards and two dragons facing them as going to engage, their tounges are done in curiousest wyse.

1577–87.  Holinshed, Chron., III. 849/1. Then entered a person called Report, apparelled in crimsin sattin full of toongs, sitting on a flieng horsse … called Pegasus.

1886.  Edin. Rev., July, 151. The classical ‘egg and tongue’ and ‘tongue and dart’ patterns are branches from the same stem.

  3.  The tongue of an animal as an article of food; esp. an OX-TONGUE or NEAT’S TONGUE.

c. 1420.  Liber Cocorum (1862), 26. Take tho ox tonge and schalle hit wele.

1598.  Epulario, C iv. To seeth Tongues.

1653.  Walton, Angler, vii. 165. The tongues of Carps are noted to be choice and costly meat.

1740.  Somerville, Hobbinol, III. Poems (1749), 158. Black Hams, and Tongues that speechless can persuade To ply the brisk Carouse.

1869.  ‘L. Carroll,’ Phantasm., 112. Dispense the tongue and chicken.

  II.  In reference to speech.

  4.  Considered as the principal organ of speech; hence, the faculty of speech; the power of articulation or vocal expression or description; voice, speech; words, language. Also fig.

  In many contexts it is impossible to separate the sense of the organ from that of its work or use.

c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., IV. xxv. [xxiv.] (1890), 348. Seo tunge, þe swa moniʓ halwende word in þæs scyppendes lof ʓesette.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Exod. iv. 10. Þa cwæþ Moises … ic hæfde þe lætran tungan.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 4879. Þuss spacc þe Laferrd Jesu Crist Þurrh his prophetess tunge.

a. 1250.  Prov. Ælfred, 282, in O. E. Misc., 118. Wymmon is word-woþ & haueþ tunge [v.r. tunke] to swift.

c. 1290.  Beket, 645, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 125. No tounge telle ne may.

13[?].  Cursor M., 8404 (Gött.). Þou salamon mi sone be ȝong, He es wijs and of redi toung.

1414.  26 Pol. Poems, xiii. 100. He wolde trouþes tonge were tyȝed.

1573.  G. Harvey, Letter-bk. (Camden), 6. A hie point for them to beat there heds and whet there tungs about.

1587.  Mirr. Mag., Brennus, xxxiv. What tong can tell thy mothers griefe.

1600.  Shaks., A. Y. L., II. i. 16. This our life … Findes tongues in trees, bookes in the running brookes.

1679.  trans. Madame de La Fayette’s Princess of Cleves, 5. Nature had added to it, for its advantage, a Tongue whose Eloquence was made up of Charms.

1888.  F. Hume, Mme. Midas, I. Prol. As you have not even a tongue to contradict.

  b.  In many colloquial and proverbial expressions of obvious meaning.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, I. (Katerine), 257. Na man of ws had tuth na towng To conclud hir, þocht scho be ȝounge.

c. 1425.  Eng. Conq. Irel., 46. Tong breketh bon, thegh hym-self ne hawe none.

1484.  Caxton, Fables of Auian, xxii. The felauship of the man whiche hath two tongues is nought.

1546.  J. Heywood, Prov. (1867), 64. Her tong ronth on patens. Ibid. (1562), Prov. & Epigr., 163. Thy tounge runth before thy wit.

1607.  T. Walkington, Opt. Glass, i. (1664), 2. Pythagoras … had this golden Poesie ever on his tongues end.

1677.  W. Hughes, Man of Sin, III. iii. 77. For a Tongue to pierce an Inch-Board, commend me to Tursellinus.

1820.  Scott, Abbot, iv. I would … give him a lick with the rough side of my tongue.

1859.  Reade, Love me Little, x. Wasn’t your tongue a little too long for your teeth just now?

1870.  Dickens, E. Drood, ii. Have you lost your tongue, Jack?

1890.  Major-Gen. A. F. Bond, in Rogerson, Hist. Rec. 53rd (Shropshire) Regt., 206. Having … given them a taste of his rough tongue.

1895.  E. Anglia Gloss., s.v. Length, To give one the length of your tongue, to slang.

1899.  Raymond, Two Men o’ Mendip, xv. 248. Vather’ll … call ee everything he can lay his tongue to.

  c.  To hold one’s tongue, to refrain from speech, keep silence, say nothing. † To keep one’s tongue, (a) to keep one’s word; (b) to hold one’s tongue.

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xxxviii. 276. Se mon se ðe ne mæʓ his tungan ʓehealdan sie ʓelicost openre byriʓ.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XVIII. 146. Hold þi tonge, mercy! It is but a trufle þat þow tellest.

1390.  Gower, Conf., III. 143. Ther schal a worthi king, beginne To kepe his tunge and to be trewe.

c. 1440.  Alphabet of Tales, 83. Þe toder … flate with hym agayn & bad hym hold his tong.

1535.  Coverdale, Matt. xxvi. 63. Iesus helde his tonge.

1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., I. i. 214. I will charme him first to keepe his tongue. Ibid. (1605), Macb., II. iii. 125. Why doe we hold our tongues?

1672.  Mede’s Wks., p. xvii. It was a frequent Proverbial speech of our Author’s, He that cannot hold his tongue can hold nothing; and he practis’d accordingly.

1749.  Lady Luxborough, Lett. to Shenstone, 28 Nov. Shocked to hear in rough English Hold your tongue.

1833.  Ht. Martineau, Loom & Lugger, I. vii. Hold your impertinent tongue, Sir.

1884.  Georgiana M. Craik, G. Helstone, 26. Here is your father who knows it is, though he thinks it best to hold his tongue.

  d.  Phr. To put, or speak with, one’s tongue in one’s cheek, to speak insincerely.

1842.  Barham, Ingol. Leg., Ser. II. Black Mousquetaire, II. xv. He … Cried ‘Superbe!—Magnifique!’ (With his tongue in his cheek).

1869.  M. Arnold, Cult. & An., Pref. 56. If statesmen, either with their tongue in their cheek or through a generous impulsiveness, tell them [etc.]. Ibid., 123. He unquestionably … knows that he is talking clap-trap, and, so to say, puts his tongue in his cheek.

1898.  Sir E. W. Hamilton, Gladstone, 10. There was no speaking ‘with his tongue in the cheek.’ He spoke straight from the heart.

  5.  The action of speaking; speech, talking, utterance, voice; also, what is spoken or uttered; words, talk, discourse.

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., i. 27. Ac sio tunge bið ʓescended on ðæm lareowdome ðonne hio oðer lærð, oðer hio ʓeleornode.

c. 1020.  Rule St. Benet (Logeman), 4. Se ðe na deþ facn on his tungan.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 78. Wite ich wel mine tunge, ich mei wel holden þene wei toward heouene.

1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. I. 86. Hose is trewe of his tonge … is a-counted to þe gospel.

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, I. 294. He was wondyr fayr, Nocht large of tong.

1520.  Whitinton, Vulg. (1527), 3 b. He is full of tongue [linguax].

1604.  S. Harrison, Archs of Triumph, B j. Their lastingnes should liue but in the tongues and memories of men.

1667.  Dryden, Sir Martin Mar-All, III. iii. Sometimes you have tongue enough; what, are you silent?

1835.  Montgomery, Hymn, ‘For euer with the Lord.’ The choral harmonics of Heaven Earth’s Babel tongues o’erpower.

  b.  Speech as distinguished from or contrasted with thought, action, or fact; mere words.

1382.  Wyclif, 1 John iii. 18. Loue we not in word, nether in tunge, but in werk and treuthe.

c. 1400.  Apol. Loll., 54. Þe tung a lone is not to be axid, but the lif.

c. 1560.  A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), iii. 23. Bot offir thame ȝour daly observance Be tung, tho^t naþir hairt nor mynd consentis.

1853.  Lynch, Self-Improv., iv. 102. If religion begins with your tongue, it is very likely only to end there; but if religion is in your heart, it must needs come to your tongue sometimes.

1866.  Carlyle, in Morn. Star, 4 April, 5/4. It seems to me the finest nations of the world—the English and the American—are going all away into wind and tongue.

  † c.  Spoken as distinct from written or other communication; by tongue, by word of mouth. Obs.

1549.  Compl. Scot., xi. 94. The messengeir gat nay ansuer be tong fra ald tarquine.

1553.  Janet Bethune, in Maitl. Cl. Misc. (1840), I. 41, note. I hair committit sum part of my mynd be toung to my broder.

  † d.  A ‘voice,’ vote, suffrage. Obs. rare.

1607.  Shaks., Cor., II. iii. 216. Have you, ere now, deny’d the asker: And now againe, [? on] him that did not aske,… Bestow your su’d-for Tongues?

  † e.  Eulogy, fame. Obs. rare.

c. 1616.  Fletcher, Thierry & Theod., V. (last sp.). And because She was born Noble, let that Title find her A private grave, but neither tongue nor honor.

  6.  Manner of speaking or talking, with regard to the sense or import of what is said, the mode of expression or form of words used, or the sound of the voice.

c. 1460.  How Gd. Wif thaught hir Doughter, 19, in Hazl., E. P. P., I. 181. Be of a good berynge and of a good tonge.

1595.  Enq. Tripe-wife (1881), 147. Keepe a good tung in your head, least it hurt your teeth.

1595.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., Induct. i. 114. With soft lowe tongue, and lowly curtesie. Ibid. (1596), Merch. V., II. vi. 27. Who are you? tell me for more certainty, Albeit Ile sweare that I do know your tongue.

1664.  in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 204. She gros very malisas in hur toung to us all.

1724.  Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc. (1733), I. 86. Ye … ha’ na learn’d the beggars tongue.

1828.  Trial of W. Dyon at York Assizes, 10. I knew him by his tongue.

  7.  Of a dog. a. In phrases: To move (its) tongue, to bark (arch.); to give tongue, to throw (its) tongue, properly of a hound: to give forth its voice when on the scent or in sight of the quarry. Also transf. of persons.

1535.  Coverdale, Josh. x. 21. No man durst moue his tunge agaynst the children of Israel.

1539.  Bible (Great), Exod. xi. 7. But amonge all the children of Isrl’ shal not a dogg moue his tonge, nor yet man or beast.

1737.  Hervey, Mem., II. 374. To speak in the sportsman’s style, he has not given tongue often.

1742.  Fielding, Jos. Andrews, III. vi. Ringwood … never threw his tongue but where the scent was undoubtedly true.

1843.  R. Palmer, in Mem. (1896), I. xxiv. 353. I nearly picked a quarrel with a Repealer, who opened tongue to the people in the market place of Larne.

1857.  Geo. Eliot, Scenes Clerical Life, Amos Barton, ii. When Papa opened the door Chubby was giving tongue energetically.

1859.  Art of Taming Horses, xii. 203. When a hound throws his tongue he is said to speak.

1871.  Freeman, Norm. Conq., IV. xx. 518. He was for a moment undisputed lord, without a dog moving his tongue against him, from the Orkneys to the Angevin march.

1893.  Black & White, 15 July, 81/1. He has a tendency to throw his tongue too freely, to speak without fair warrant.

  b.  Hence, the hunting-cry or ‘music’ of a hound in pursuit of game.

1787.  Hunter, in Phil. Trans., LXXVII. 266. Others, as the Hound, have a peculiar howl, which, by huntsmen, is called the tongue.

1879.  Dogs Gt. Brit. & Amer., 56 (Cent.). The tongue [of the bloodhound should be] loud, long, deep, and melodious.

1890.  The Tongue of the Hound, in Sat. Rev., 1 Feb., 134/2. It is odd that the English hound, alone of hounds, should have this melodious tongue. Ibid., 135/1. How the squires of bygone times valued the tongues of their hounds.

  8.  The speech or language of a people or race; also, that of a particular class or locality, a dialect.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Mark xvi. 17. Hi sprecaþ niwum tungum.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 233. Þis ilke boke is translate In to Inglis tong to rede.

1423.  James I., Kingis Q., vii. Enditing In his faire latyne tong.

1485.  Rolls of Parlt., VI. 375/1. Maister Stephen Fryon’, our Secretary in Frensh tonge.

a. 1560.  Rolland, Seven Sages (1837), A ij. In vulgar toung he bure the bell that day To mak meter.

1570–6.  Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 233. Erasmus compareth the English toong to a Dog’s barking that soundeth nothing els but Baw waw waw in Monosillable.

1667.  Milton, P. L., XII. 501. To speak all Tongues, and do all Miracles.

1689–90.  Temple, Ess. Learning, Wks. 1731, I. 165. The three modern Tongues much esteemed, are Italian, Spanish and French.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 1, ¶ 3. Celebrated Books, either in the learned or the modern Tongues.

1868.  Gladstone, Juv. Mundi, iii. (1869), 89. There were many races in Crete, and there was a mixture of tongue.

1908.  [Miss E. Fowler], Betw. Trent & Ancholme, 307. Now the local tongue is becoming too ‘correct’ to be characteristic and picturesque.

  b.  The tongues, foreign languages; often spec. the classical or learned languages; † the three tongues, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

[c. 1450.  Capgrave, Life St. Aug., 4 The Barbar tonge is euery tonge in þe world whech is fer fro þe iij principall tongis, Hebrew, Grek, & Latyn.]

1535.  Joye, Apol. Tindale (Arb.), 11. A man of grete lerning … both in the scriptures and the tongues.

1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 37. Excellencie in the knowledge of all three tonges.

1577.  Harrison, England, II. iii. (1877), I. 71. In … Cambridge & Oxford … the vse of the toongs … are dailie taught and had.

1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., IV. i. 33. Haue you the Tongues?… My youthfull trauaile, therein made me happy.

1617.  Minsheu, Ductor, Title-p., The Guide into the tongues. With their agreement and consent one with another … in these eleuen Languages, viz. [etc.].

1691.  Ray, Creation, I. (1692), 262. We content ourselves with the knowledge of the Tongues.

1907.  A. Lang, in Blackw. Mag., July, 17. He was well-educated, familiar with ‘the tongues.’

1912.  Bodleian Library, Man. for Readers, 4/1. The rooms once used for the teaching of … the two Tongues (Greek and Hebrew).

  c.  The knowledge or use of a language; esp. in phrases gift of tongues, to speak with a tongue (tongues), in reference to the Pentecostal miracle and the miraculous gift in the early Church.

1526.  Tindale [see 2 a]. Ibid., 1 Cor. xii. 30. Do all speake with tonges? Ibid., xiii. 8. Though that prophesyinge fayle, other tonges shall cease, or knowledge vanysshe awaye.

1533.  Gau, Richt Vay, 48. The halie spreit … gaif to thayme ye gift to speik with al twngis.

1538.  Cromwell, in Merriman, Life & Lett. (1902), II. 144. Ioynyng wyth you Maister Mason … to declare your purpose for that having the tongue he may doo … it more fully thenne you could percace easly vtter the same.

1593.  R. Harvey, Philad., 3. Neither can you proue that hee had not wealth enough to serue his vses, or tongue enough in euery place of his trauell.

a. 1637.  B. Jonson, Underwoods, Execration upon Vulcan, 75. Their … bright stone that brings Invisibility, and strength, and tongues.

1879.  Farrar, St. Paul, I. 96. The glossolalia or ‘speaking with a tongue,’ is connected with ‘prophesying,’ that is, exalted preaching.

  9.  transf. in biblical use: A people or nation having a language of their own. Usually in plural: all tongues, people of every tongue.

1382.  Wyclif, Rev. v. 9. In thi blood, of al lynage, and tunge, and puple, and nacioun.

1526.  Tindale, ibid. Thou … haste redemed vs by thy bloud, out of all kynreddes, and tonges, and people, and nacions.

1535.  Coverdale, Isa. lxvi. 18. I wil come to gather all people and tonges.

1587.  Golding, De Mornay, xxvii. (1592), 433. All People, Nations, and Toungs shal serue that Kingdome.

1745.  Scot. Paraphr., XVIII. ii. To this the joyful nations round, all tribes and tongues shall flow.

1875.  Manning, Mission H. Ghost, ix. 234. Throughout all lands, and people, and tongues.

  III.  Anything that resembles or suggests the human or animal tongue by its shape, position, function, or use; a tapering, projecting, or elongated object or part, esp. when mobile, or attached at one end or side.

  10.  Any tongue-like part or organ of the human or animal body. † Tongue of the throat, the uvula.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xxiv. (Bodl. MS. lf. 13 b/1). [Þis] þe phisicians clepiþ þe tunge of þe throte and Cataracta also.

1483.  Cath. Angl., 396/2. A Tunge in the throte, vua; or ye palase of ye mowthe.

1831.  R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 253. The Trachelo-Mastoideus (Complexus Minor),… arises from the last four transverse processes of the neck, and three or four of the back, by tendinous and fleshy tongues.

1897.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 527. A projecting tongue [of splenic tissue] becoming pedunculated.

  † 11.  A wedge, an ingot of gold or silver. Obs.

  (In quot. a lit. rendering of Heb. l’shōn zahab.)

1535.  Coverdale, Josh. vii. 21. And two hundreth Sycles of syluer and a tunge of golde, worth fiftye Sycles in weight.

  12.  (= tongue-fish.) A young or small-sized sole.

  [So, in same sense, early mod.Du. tonghe (Kilian), Ger. zunge, Da. tunge, Sw. tungfisk.]

a. 1825.  Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Tongue, a small sole, from its shape.

1881.  Daily News, 4 March, 4/6. Large soles are put at the top and bottom of the box, and the ‘tongues’ stowed cleverly in the middle, so that the sole buyer … has but scant opportunity of fairly judging its contents.

1881.  Daily Tel., 11 March. The fishermen know the ground on which little else than tongues can be caught, and they should be prevented fishing over that ground.

1884.  F. Day, Fishes Gt. Brit., II. 40. Sole … slips, or tongues, the market terms for the young.

  13.  A tongue-like projecting piece of anything. a. A narrow strip of land, running into the sea, or between two branches of a river, or two other lands; also a projecting horizontal point or spit of ice in the sea, a narrow inlet of water running into the land, etc. b. A narrow and deep part of the current of a river, running smoothly and rapidly between rocks. c. A tapering jet of flame.

  a.  1566.  in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 1577. 735/1. Duas acras vocatas the kirk-dur-keyis (… descendendo cum uno lie tung inter terras de Erlishall).

1615.  G. Sandys, Trav., 331. There is a double haven devided by a tongue of rocke.

1682.  Wheler, Journ. Greece, I. 27. You see the Sea on both sides of this long Tongue of Land.

1693.  Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), III. 89. The Windsor Castle run on the tongue of the Goodwin sands.

1766.  J. Bartram, Jrnl., 12 Jan., 33. A long tongue of marsh comes from the N.E. end.

1771.  Chron., in Ann. Reg., 73/1. Whitehaven … the tide … overflowed the quays and tongues, and ran … into the market-place.

1775.  Romans, Florida, App. 48. To the westward of Stirrup’s Key is a tongue of ocean water shooting into the bank.

1820.  Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., I. 228. A tongue is a point of ice projecting nearly horizontally from a part that is under water. Ships have sometimes run aground upon tongues of ice.

1832.  Act 2 & 3 Will. IV., c. 64. Sched. O, 16. The tongue of land in the river just above Kingsbury fish-pond.

1839.  Murchison, Silur. Syst., I. x. 134. A … smaller tongue of the coal measures passes from the Forest of Wyre to the left bank of the Severn.

1857.  Livingstone, Trav., xx. 404. A tongue of rather high land, formed by the left bank of the Lucalla, and right bank of the Coanza.

1895.  Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 573. Tongues of forest go up the mountain in some places a hundred yards or more above the true line of the belt.

  b.  1891.  Cent. Dict., s.v., A tongue is well-known to anglers as a favorite resting-place of salmon in their laborious ascent of rapid streams.

  c.  1797.  Coleridge, Christabel, I. 159. A tongue of light, a fit of flame.

1849.  Mrs. Somerville, Connex. Phys. Sc., xxxiii. (ed. 8), 370. The flame of a taper … is immediately divided into two tongues by the electric current.

1872.  Hanna, Resurrection, ix. 178. That broad strong tongue of flame.

  14.  In many technical applications.

  a.  The pin of a buckle or brooch. b. The pointer of a balance; also of a dial. c. A thin elastic vibratory strip of metal, covering the aperture of a reed in an organ-pipe: = REED 8 c; hence transf. an analogous device in a seed-sowing machine (obs.); also, a reed in the oboe or bassoon: = REED 8 a; the vibrating fork in the Jew’s harp or ‘trump’; hence fig. the essential or principal person in a company or the like; also, a plectrum or jack in the harpsichord (= JACK sb.¹ 14). d. The clapper of a bell; hence, the pistil or a stamen of a bell-flower. e. The pole of a wagon or other vehicle; † the head of a plough (obs.). f. A projecting piece of leather or the like forming a tab or flap, or means of fastening; the strip of thin leather or kid closing the opening in a boot which is laced or buttoned; hence, any similar appendage. † g. In Fortification, a pointed horn-work; see quot. Obs. h. The movable tapered piece of rail in a railway switch. i. The wedge-shaped or tapered end of a scion in grafting. j. A projecting tenon along the edge of a board, to be inserted into a groove or mortise in the edge of another board; also, a connecting slip, often of iron or steel, which joins two grooved boards; in Mech. a projecting flange, rib, or strip for any purpose (Cassell’s Encycl. Dict., 1888). k. The tapered end of a pole, etc., by which it is fixed in a socket; also, the upper main-piece of a made mast. l. A short piece of rope spliced into the upper part of the standing backstays, etc. m. Of a sword or knife: see quots. n. Of a bevel: see quots.

  a.  c. 1325.  Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 150. Einsy doyt le hardiloun [gloss, the tungge]. Passer par tru de subiloun [gloss, a bore of an alsene] [nalkin].

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 506/1. Tunge of a bocle, lingula.

1483.  Cath. Angl., 396/2. A Tunge of ye belte, lingula.

1524.  in G. Oliver, Hist. Coll. (1841), App. 15. A silver bokyll without a tong.

1530.  Palsgr., 281/2. Tong of a buckell, hardillon.

1608.  in Archæologia, XI. 93. Sixteen gold buckles with pendants and toungs.

1802.  Trans. Soc. Arts, XX. 334. A buckle, with its double tongue received in a groove.

1851.  D. Wilson, Preh. Ann. (1863), II. 258. The acus or tongue is wanting.

  b.  1429.  Rolls of Parlt., IV. 349/1. So yat ye tunge of ye balance encline not to on party.

1530.  Palsgr., 281/2. Tong of a balaunce, languette.

1626.  Massinger, Roman Actor, V. ii. As I can move this dial’s tongue to six.

a. 1691.  Boyle, Hist. Air (1692), 91. The scales being gently stirred, the tongue would play altogether on that side, at which the bubble was hung.

1896.  M. Rutherford, Cath. Furze, vi. It was just a tremble of the tongue of the balance.

  c.  1551.  Turner, Herbal, I. E ij. Ther are dyuerse kyndes of reedes, some are thicke redes; wherof arrowes are made,… some serue for to make tonges for pypes.

1727–41.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Organ, The degree of acuteness and gravity in the sound of a reed pipe, depends on the length of the tongue.

1733.  Tull, Horse-Hoeing Husb., xxii. 319. The Tongue of the Seed-Box … differs from that in the Sound-Board of an Organ … in Shape.

1786.  T. Jefferson, Writ. (1859), I. 503. The last invented tongue for the harpsichord.

1795.  Burns, Election, ii. An’ there will be black-lippit Johnnie, The tongue o’ the trump to them a’.

1854.  Bushnan, in Orr’s Circ. Sc. I. Org. Nat., 127. The air throws the tongue … into a state of vibration.

1879.  Stainer, Music of Bible, 78. The real difference between an oboe and a clarinet is, that the former has a double tongue which vibrates, the latter a single tongue.

1898.  Stainer & Barrett, Dict. Mus. Terms, s.v. Organ Construction, 345. The reed is a brass tube … having a narrow orifice over which lies the tongue, a thin elastic piece of brass large enough to cover the orifice and its edges…. The lower end of the tongue is … perfectly free.

  d.  1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. (1586), 65. By plucking out the little yellowe toongs from the bell.

1578.  Burgh Rec. Glasgow (Maitl. Club), 104. For ane tong to Sanct Mungowes bell 2/.

1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., V. i. 370. The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelue. Ibid. (1595), John, III. iii. 37. If the mid-night bell Did, with his yron tongue, and brazen mouth, Sound on into the drowzie race of night.

1690.  Vestry Bks. (Surtees), 258. For leather to the bell tongues, 2s. 8d.

1721.  Wodrow, Sufferings Ch. Scot. (1838), I. I. iv. § i. 333/1. The bell’s tongue in some places was stolen away, that the parishioners might have an excuse for not coming to church.

1842.  Belfast & Environs, 71. This fine bell, which—except that the tongue is wanting—is in as fine preservation as at the moment it was originally cast.

  e.  1591.  Percivall, Sp. Dict., Pertiga de carreta, the toong of a plowe, (L.) temo.

1792.  Belknap, Hist. New Hampsh., III. 106. The oxen which are nearest to the tongue are sometimes suspended.

1827.  F. Cooper, Prairie, I. ii. 27. The men … applied their strength to the wagon, pulling it by its projecting tongue.

1858.  Lewis, in Youatt, Dog (N.Y.) ii. 54. Constantly by the side or at the heels of the horses, or under the tongue of the vehicle.

  f.  1597.  A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 32 b/1. The hornes hauinge internally a little leatherne tunge which stoppeth the hoales.

1643.  Sir T. Hope, Diary, 25 June (1843), 191. Quhil I wes pulling on my left buit both the tungis of it brak.

1830.  Marryat, King’s Own, x. He passed the leathern tongue of the [pocket-] book through the strap.

1840.  J. Devlin, Shoemaker, 65. A further closing … beginning at the turn of the … counter, and going right round, along the range, and up the tongue.

1912.  W. H. Stevenson, in Eng. Hist. Rev., Jan., 7. The writs of Edward the Confessor have pendent seals affixed to a tongue of the parchment.

  g.  1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, III. xvi. (Roxb.), 99/1. Tongues … are outworks that differ from Horn-works only in this, that in two halfe Bulworks they haue only an acute angle: and this sort is called the Single Tongue: it is called a double Tongue work, when it hath two outward angles with one inward.

  h.  1841.  Penny Cycl., XIX. 257/1. Switches are moveable rails placed at the point where two tracks fall into one,… to guide vehicles from the single track into either of the two…. In the old railways this was effected by short tongues of iron, moved by hand.

1877.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Tongue … the short movable rail of a switch, by which the wheels are or the other lines of rail.

  i.  1832.  Planting, 30, in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb., III. The upper division of the scion made by the slit, termed the tongue or wedge, is then inserted into the cleft of the stock.

1887.  Nicholson’s Dict. Gard., s.v. Tongue-grafting, A small, thin tongue is cut in an upward direction in the scion, and also a notch the opposite way in the stock.

  j.  1842.  Francis, Dict. Arts, etc., Tongue, a projecting part at the edge of a board, to be inserted into a groove ploughed in the edge of another.

1902.  How to Make Things, 57/1. Then add the other boards fitting the tongue of one into the groove of the other.

  k.  1815.  Burney, Falconer’s Dict. Marine, 568/1. Tongue, in mast-making, the taper part of the lower end of a spindle, or of a scarph.

  l.  1815.  Burney, Falconer’s Dict. Marine, Tongue, a short piece of rope spliced into the upper part of standing backstays, &c. to the size of the topmast-head.

  m.  1853.  Stocqueler, Milit. Encycl., Tougue of a Sword, that part of the blade on which the gripe, shell, and pummel, are fixed.

1859.  Boutell, Arms & Arm., ix. (1874), 170. The tongue … is the spike … which is fixed into the hilt in order to join the hilt and the blade together.

  n.  1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Tongue of a bevel,… by which the angles or bevellings are taken.

1877.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Tongue,… the movable arm of a bevel, the principal member being the stock, which forms the case when the instrument is closed.

  IV.  attrib. and Comb. (very numerous: the following are examples).

  15.  a. Simple attrib., as tongue-battery, -battle, -bolt, -bully, -combat, -compliment, -craft, -debate, -drill, -fire, -government, -grace, -itch, metal, -part (of a top-boot), -plague, -play, -powder, -prayer, -root, -saw, -sin, -skirmish, -slip, -squib, -structure, -tangle, -tattle, -tip, -toil, -valor, -vice, -war, -warrior, -weapon. b. objective and obj. genitive, as tongue-biting, -cutting, -lolling, -paralyzing, -scraper, -taming, -wagging (so tongue-wag vb. intr.), sbs. and adjs. c. instrumental, as tongue-bang, -hammer, -kill, -lash, -taw vbs., tongue-baited, -bitten, -rent adjs., tongue-murdering, -scourging, -smiting, -travailing sbs. and adjs., tongue-banger, -smiter sbs. d. locative, similative, etc., as tongue-bound, -doughty, -dumb, -flowered, -free, -gilt, -haltered, -leaved, -like, -proof, -puissant, -valiant, -wanton adjs.

1750.  Student, I. 304. Socrates was too much *tongue-baited.

1824.  Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. I. (1863), 97. The feminine accomplishment of scolding, (*tongue-banging, it is called in our parts, a compound word which deserves to be Greek).

1881.  Good Wds., 842/2. I heerd her tonguebanging o’ ye as I cum past the house.

1880.  Tennyson, North. Cobbler, iv. Sally she turn’d a *tongue-banger, an’ räated.

1671.  Milton, Samson, 404. Mustring all her wiles, With blandisht parlies, feminine assaults, *Tongue-batteries.

a. 1743.  Ozell, trans. Brantome’s Span. Rhodomontades (1744), 84. He did by no means like Handy-blows, but only your *Tongue-Battles.

1898.  J. Hutchinson, in Arch. Surg., IX. No. 34. 126. It [an epileptic fit] came without warning, and was attended by *tongue-biting.

1615.  Day, Festivals, xii. 335. Now for us … who are thus *Tongue-bitten and Reviled in such sort.

1611.  Beaum. & Fl., Philaster, II. ii. Look well about you and you may find a *tongue-bolt.

1856.  R. A. Vaughan, Mystics (1860), II. VIII. iv. 52. The … doctors of Lyons hurled back his tongue-bolts with the dreaded cry of heresy.

1906.  E. A. Abbott, Silanus, xxix. I stood silent,… as it were *tongue-bound.

a. 1834.  Coleridge, Notes & Lect. (1849), I. 283. Such a mouthing Tamburlane, and bombastic *tongue-bully as this Cethegus of his!

1897.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., III. 354. The most important factors in the *tongue-coating of fever.

1623.  Hexham (title), A *tongve-combat, lately happening be-tweene two English Souldiers in the Till-boat of Grauesend.

1660.  Fuller, Mixt Contempl. (1841), 198. The rent-completing of the one, and the *tongue-compliments of the other.

1837.  C. Lofft, Self-formation, I. 220. Despatch … is a surpassing quality in *tonguecraft.

1697.  Dryden, Æneid, XI. 588. Ever foremost in a *tongue-debate.

1671.  Milton, Samson, 1181. *Tongue-doubtie Giant, how dost thou prove me these?

1886.  Tupper, My Life as Author, 73. That was the sort of *tongue-drill and nerve-quieting recommended and enforced.

1556.  Aurelio & Isab. (1608), H ij. You thoughte … to rendre me *tonge domme.

1876.  Swinburne, Erechtheus, 642. *Tongue-fighters, tough of talk and sinewy speech.

1690.  C. Nesse, O. & N. Test., I. 19. This raging *tongue-fire causeth great confusion.

1890.  Cent. Dict., s.v. Serapias, S. Lingua is known as the *tongue-flowered … orchis.

1617.  Bp. Hall, Quo Vadis, xxi. Others more capricious, some more *tongue-free; few euer better.

1907.  ‘J. Halsham,’ Lonewood Corner, 116. John Board … to the last degree tongue-free.

1608.  Machin & Markham, Dumb Knight, III. i. F j b. Thus are the pauement stones before the doores Of these great *tongue guilt Orators, worne smoth With clients.

1656.  E. Reyner, Rules Gout. Tongue, 97. *Tongue-government is needfull to prevent Miseries from our selves.

1637.  Rutherford, Lett., clxxxi. (1881), 314. O that He would give me more than … *tongue-grace.

1847.  Fr. Oxford to Rome (ed. 2), 105. The din of word-battles and *tongue-hammers.

1836–48.  B. D. Walsh, Aristoph., Knights, II. iii. Handed it o’er To us to be *tongue-hammered loudly.

1540.  Cranmer, Pref. to Bible. Wherof commeth all this *tongue itche, that we haue so moch delight to talke & clatter.

1676.  Dryden, Aureng-zebe, II. i. My Ears still ring with Noise, I’m vex’d to Death: *Tongue-kill’d.

1885.  H. C. McCook, Tenants Old Farm, 74. You … deserve a little *tongue-lashing.

1887.  Baring-Gould, Red Spider, ii. Let yourself be led and *tongue-lashed by your housekeeper.

1822.  Hortus Angl., II. 374. C. Myconis. *Tongue-leaved Chrysanthemum. Leaves tongue-shaped, obtuse, serrate.

1832.  Planting, 31, in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb., III. The scion [should be] split … so as to form the two divisions into *tongue-like processes.

1826.  J. Wilson, Noct. Ambr., Wks. 1855, I. 256. Smoking, and leering, with *tongue-lolling cheek.

1847.  L. Hunt, Men, Women, & B., I. iii. 44. The yelps and tongue-lollings of the dog.

1611.  Coryat’s Crudities, Char. Authour. He is alwaies *Tongue-major of the company.

1608.  Pennyless Parl., in Harl. Misc., III. 79. A quart or two of fine Trinidado shall arm us against the gun-shot of *tongue-metal.

1599.  Broughton’s Lett., v. 18. Such a *tongue-murthering Cain … cannot withhold.

1832.  Carlyle, Remin. (1881), 7. Long may we remember his ‘I don’t believe thee’; his *tongue-paralyzing, cold, indifferent ‘Hah!’

1841.  Penny Cycl., XXI. 410/2. It … goes twice through the hands of the workman; the first time to do what is called the *tongue part, the closing of the vamp and counter to the leg.

1617.  Lane, Cont. Sqr.’s T., IV. 159. What faleshode (which this witch termes veritie)! what *tonge-plages (cowardlie scurrilitie)!

1872.  Swinburne, Ess. & Stud. (1875), 52. The purblind … policy of sword-play and *tongue-play.

1589.  R. Harvey, Pl. Perc. (1590), 7. He that hath most *toong powder hopes to driue the other out of the field first.

1604.  Hieron, Wks., I. 491. Blind deuotions and *tong-prayers, which the hart doth not conceiue.

1652.  Bp. Hall, Invisible World, III. v. Another while he bids him be *tongue-proof.

1566.  Drant, Horace, Sat., vii. D vij. Two *tongue puisante knyghts.

1607.  Hieron, Defence, I. 3 b. Miserably slandered & *tongue-rente.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 1375. Bot þou sal tak þis pepins thre … And do þam vnder his *tong rote.

1825.  Jamieson, s.v., It was juist at my tongue-roots,… intimating either that a person was just about to catch a term that had caused some degree of hesitation, or that he was on the point of uttering an idea in which he has been anticipated by another.

a. 1711.  Ken, Edmund, V. 82. Thus Dipsychus when he most Kindness feigns, With his *Tongue-Saw licks Mortals to their Banes.

1599.  A. M., trans. Gabelhouer’s Bk. Physicke, 88/1. Then scrape your tunge with a wooden *tungescraper.

1710.  Steele, Tatler, No. 245, ¶ 2. [She] carried off … a Silver Tongue-Scraper.

1897.  Star, 20 April, 4/7. A curious instrument possessed by everyone in China above the extremely poor is the tongue-scraper.

1713.  M. Henry, Check to Ungoverned Tongue, Wks. 1853, I. 149. Peter resolved against a *tongue-sin in his own strength.

1822.  T. Mitchell, Aristoph., II. 214. What, my friends, if we quit This *tongue-skirmish of wit?

1647.  Trapp, Comm. Matt. v. 11. There are *tongue-smiters, as well as hand-smiters.

1690.  C. Nesse, O. & N. Test., I. 18. *Tongue-smiting is as smart as any hand-smiting.

1628.  Feltham, Resolves, II. [I.] ii. 6. As for the crackers of the braine, and *tongue-squibs, they will dye alone, if I shall not reuiue them.

1861.  Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., VIII. 281. The *tongue-structure of folded anticlinals.

1901.  Westm. Gaz., 29 Nov., 2/3. He generally got into a *tongue-tangle over the word.

1592.  Lyly, Midas, V. ii. I feare nothing so much as to be *tongue tawde.

1896.  A. Morrison, Child of the Jago, 299. His *tongue-tip passed quickly over them.

1900.  H. Sutcliffe, Shameless Wayne, ix. Martha had a keen answer on her tongue-tip.

1609.  Boys, Expos. Script. Eng. Liturg., Wks. (1629), 29. He praiseth God but little, who makes it a *tongue-toile and a lip labour only.

1603.  Dekker, Wonderfull Yeare, B iv. *Tongue-trauelling Lawyers faint at such a day.

1556.  J. Heywood, Spider & F., lx. Dd j. For the feare, that his *tongtromp (to you did sowne:) By thus manie flies: to thus few spiders seene.

a. 1700.  Dryden, Iliad, I. 336. *Tongue-valiant hero, vaunter of thy might, In threats the foremost, but the lag in fight!

1838–42.  Arnold, Hist. Rome, II. xxx. 186. The Greeks being a tongue-valiant people returned an insulting refusal.

1629.  Maxwell, trans. Herodian (1635), 383. You wel know what weather-cocks the Roman people are: and how great their *tongue-valour is.

1628.  Feltham, Resolves, II. [I.] xxx. 96. For the *tongue-vice, talkatiuenesse, I see not, but … Men may very well vie words with them [women].

1885.  B. Harte, Maruja, vi. No … *tongue-wagging gossip.

1887.  Pall Mall G., 27 Jan., 1/1. It is not necessary that he should say anything wise or true or new. All that he needs do is to keep on tongue-wagging.

1820.  T. Roscoe, Gonzalo, III. i. Being *tongue-wanton of his noble friend, And crying up his many excellences.

1730.  B. Martyn, Timoleon, IV. iii. I hate This Female *Tongue-War, and will end it thus.

1820.  T. Mitchell, Aristoph., I. 190. A man in tongue-war His superior by far.

1742.  R. Blair, Grave, 297. The *tongue-warrior … cannot tell his ails.

1681.  Colvil, Whigs Supplic. (1751), 131. I … have both will and wit to reckon, And beat thee at thy own *tongwe weapon.

1849.  Miss Mulock, Ogilvies, xviii. The sharpest tongue-weapons that sarcasm ever forged.

1575.  R. B., Appius & Virg., B j b. Content, for I shall repent it, for this my *tonge wralling.

  16.  Special combs.: tongue aloe, Aloe linguæformis; tongue-bar, each of the processes separating the gill-slits in Balanoglossus and Amphioxus, suggesting the tongue of a jews’ harp (Cent. Dict., Suppl., 1909); tongue-bird, local name of the wryneck, from its long retractile tongue (Swainson, Provinc. Names Birds, 1885); tongue-bit, a bridle bit having a plate attached so as to prevent the horse from putting its tongue over the mouth-piece (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1877); † tongue-blade, the shrub Ruscus Hypoglossum; = DOUBLE-TONGUE 2; tongue-bleed, -bleeder, the Goose-grass or Cleavers (Galium Aparine); tongue-bone, the hyoid bone; † tongue-butt [BUTT sb.⁶], a butt or odd corner of land at the end or side of a field; tongue-case (Entom.), the part of a pupa-case enclosing the ‘tongue’; tongue-chain, the pole-chain of a vehicle: TEAM sb.¹; tongue-cheek (Entom.), a side-piece of a moth’s mouth; tongue-compressor, a clamp for retaining the tongue during dental operations; tongue-curve, a figure showing position and movement of the tongue in speech, etc.; tongue-depressor, a surgical instrument for depressing the tongue during operations on the mouth or throat; † tongue-evil [EVIL sb. 7], a disease of the tongue; in quot. fig.; tongue-fence, argument, debate; tongue-fencer, a debater, skilful disputant; tongue-fish, the sole: cf. 12; in southern U.S., Aphoristia (Symphurus) plagiusa, a small sole-like fish; tongue-flower: see quot.; tongue-grafting, whip or splice grafting, in which a thin wedge-shaped tongue of the scion is fitted into a cleft in the stock; tongue-grass, name for garden cress (Lepidium sativum); tongue-hero (nonce-wd.), a braggart (transl. G. wortheld); tongue-holder, an instrument for holding the tongue during dental operations; tongue-hound [HOUND sb.² 2], one of the ‘hounds’ by which the tongue of a vehicle is braced (Cassell’s Encycl. Dict., s.v. tongue-support); tongue-joint, a joint formed in metal by welding a tongue in one piece into a recess in the other; tongue-key, in Exper. Psychol., a reaction-key which is opened or closed by movement of the tongue; tongue-membrane = tongue-ribbon; tongue-mole (Her.): see quot., and cf. HURT sb.²; tongue-oxen sb. pl., the pair of oxen harnessed to the tongue of a plow, etc.; tongue-pipe, a reed-pipe in an organ or similar instrument; tongue-ribbon, the odontophore of a mollusk; † tongue-ripe a., garrulous, loquacious, voluble, glib (of a person or his utterance); tongue-scapular, a scapular on which tongues of red cloth were fastened, worn by the Cistercians as a punishment for evil-speaking (Funk’s Stand. Dict., 1895); tongue-sewer, one who stitches the tongues into boots; tongue-shell, a brachiopod of the family Lingulidæ; tongue-shot, speaking or talking distance, voice-range; † tongue-sore, fig. evil-speaking; cf. tongue-evil; tongue-spatula = tongue-depressor (Knight); tongue-speaking, (a) oral as distinct from written communication; (b) speaking with tongues (see sense 8 c); tongue-tacked, -it a. Sc. = TONGUE-TIED (lit. and fig.); so tongue-tack v. trans., to put to silence; tongue-test, a test of the existence or strength of an electric current by applying the tongue to a break in the circuit, tongue-tooth, one of the teeth of the odontophore of a mollusk; tongue-tree, the pole of a wagon; tongue-triangle: see quot.; tongue-twist sb., a mispronunciation, a provincialism; tongue-twist v. intr., to twist the tongue; in quot. to prevaricate; tongue-twister, one or that which is said to twist the tongue; spec. a sequence of words, often alliterative, difficult to articulate quickly; tongue-violet, name for Schweiggeria parviflora (N.O. Violaceæ), an erect Brazilian shrub bearing white stalked violet-shaped flowers in the axils; tongue-walk v. trans., to scold, abuse; hence tongue-walking vbl. sb.; tongue-work, (a) work in ‘the tongues,’ philological labor; (b) debate, discussion, dispute; (c) chatter, gossip, babble; tongue-worm, † (a) disease of the tongue (fig.); cf. tongue-evil; (b) a tongue-shaped parasite that becomes adult in the nasal fossæ and frontal sinuses of the dog or wolf; a pentastom; (c) the ‘worm’ of the tongue in dogs; = LYTTA. See also TONGUEMAN, -PAD, -TIE, etc.

1731.  Miller, Gard. Dict., Aloe, Africana flore rubro,… The *Tongue Aloe.

1902.  Encycl. Brit., XXVI. 85/1. The *tongue-bar is the essential organ of the gill-slit in Balanoglossus.

1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, VI. xiv. 676. *Tongueblade or double tongue, his nature is to asswage payne.

1611.  Cotgr., s.v. Langue, Tong-blade, Double-tongue, Horse-tongue.

c. 1450.  Alphita (Anecd. Oxon.), 157. Rubea minor, cliure [= cleavers] uel *tongebledes.

1853.  G. Johnston, Bot. E. Bord., 100. G. aparine.… Children, with the leaves, practise phlebotomy upon the tongue … hence they call the plant Bluid-tongue or *Tongue-bluiders.

1841.  Penny Cycl., XX. 456/1. The body of the *tongue-bone is most frequently of a rhomboidal form.

1906.  Westm. Gaz., 17 April, 10/2. These sounds are produced in a bony cavity formed by an enlargement of the hyoid, or tongue-bone.

1220–51.  Cockersand Chartul. (Chetham Soc.), II. I. 450. Et insuper super Waldemurfeld, duas *Tunge-buttes quæ jacent ex utraque parte terræ.

1826.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. xxxi. 250. Before from the middle [proceeds] the *tongue-case (Glosso-theca) [of pupaæ].

1885.  H. C. McCook, Tenants Old Farm, 73. The long, slender object which you mistook for the cord by which a cocoon hangs is a tongue-case.

1890.  Jul. P. Ballard, Among Moths & Butterfl., 108. The deep, rich, velvety side-pieces, or *tongue-cheeks.

1902.  E. W. Scripture, Exper. Phonetics, 469. Phonograms, palatograms, breath records, *tongue curves, etc.

1872.  Cohen, Dis. Throat, 6. A *tongue-depressor, with a handle which is out of the line of vision, is the proper instrument.

1662.  T. I. (title), A Cure for the *Tongue-Evill. Or, A Receipt against Vain Oaths.

1644.  Milton, Divorce, II. xxi. To have her unpleasingness … bandied up and down and aggravated in open Court by those hir’d masters of *Tongue-fence.

1850.  Blackie, Æschylus, I. Pref. 18. Euripides, the great master of tongue-fence.

1675.  Crowne, Country Wit, II. The most admirable *tongue-fencer I have heard!

1655.  Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Impr. (1746), 260. Soles or *Tongue-fishes are counted the Partridges of the Sea.

1672.  Josselyn, New-Eng. Rarities, 30. Soles, or Tonguefish, or Sea Capon, or Sea Partridge.

1884.  Miller, Plant-n., *Tongue-flower, Glossula tentacula; Australian [Tongue-flower], the genus Glossodia.

1710.  J. Harris, Lex. Techn., II. *Tongue Grafting, is a way of Grafting in Roots.

1719.  London & Wise, Compl. Gard., 183. Tongue or Whip Grafting, is proper for small Stocks, of an Inch, half an Inch, or less Diameter.

1844.  N. Paterson, Manse Gard., 118. This is supposed to resemble a tongue, and hence this mode of operation is called tongue grafting.

1726.  Threlkeld, Synopsis Stirp. Hibern., G viij. Nasturtium Hortense, the Garden Cresses, is … sold by the silly Name of *Tongue-grass, and used as a Sallet.

1889.  Nicholson’s Dict. Gard., Tongue Grass, a common name for Lepidium sativum.

1800.  Coleridge, Piccolom., IV. vii. I Am no *tongue-hero, no fine virtue-prattler.

1902.  Baldwin’s Dict. Philos. & Psychol., II. 419/2. The most common form of motor response is the act of pressing a telegrapher’s key with the finger or hand. Other forms are with the lip key, *tongue key, and mouth or voice key.

1562.  Leigh, Armorie (1597), 87 b. These appeare light blewe, and come by some violent strok on men, they are called hurtes, but on women they are commonly called *Tongue-molles.

1851.  Harper’s Mag., III. 518. It would be impossible for the *tongue-oxen to resist the pressure of the load.

1874.  Wood, Nat. Hist., 638. Feeding … on little bivalves, which they can assault with their short but strongly armed *tongue-ribbon.

1610.  Healey, St. Aug. Citie of God, V. xxvii. 234. Their *tongue-ripe Satyrisme may more easily disturbe the truth of this world.

1627.  [R. Bernard], Guide agst. Witches, II. ii. 93. They [women] are more tongue-ripe, and lesse able to hide what they know from others.

1891.  Cent. Dict., *Tongue-shell.

1895.  Edin. Rev., Oct., 355. Tongue-shells and helmet-shells and lamp-shells.

1905.  W. J. Sollas, Age Earth, i. 26. The little tongue-shell, Lingula, has endured … from the Cambrian down to the present day.

1656.  S. Holland, Zara (1719), 82. Who was no sooner within *Tongue-shot of him, but alighting … she made most humble and lowly obeysance.

1860.  Reade, Cloister & H., lii. She would stand timidly aloof out of tongue-shot.

1542.  Udall, Erasm. Apoph., I. 22 b. Imputyng his *toungsore, not vnto maliciousnesse: but into the defaulte of right knowelage.

c. 1545.  Ld. Morley, Hyst. Masscutio, 12 b. Neyther with pen wrytyng nor with *tunge spekynge.

1902.  Selwyn, in Expositor, Nov., 391. They continue tongue-speaking, which is such a marked feature of the Holy Apostolic Church.

1685.  R. Hamilton, in A. Shields, Faithf. Contendings (1780), 218. It … hath *tongue-tacked many a valiant hero for Christ in our day.

1727.  P. Walker, Remark. Passages (1827), 211. That sharp Challenge, which would strike our Mean-spirited Tongue-tacked Ministers dumb. Ibid., 228. If ever he saw such an Occasion, he should not be tongue-tacked.

1814.  W. Nicholson, Peacock, IV. 44. Till fairly tongue-tack’d wi’ a pension.

a. 1877.  P. P. Carpenter, cited in Cent. Dict. for *Tongue-tooth.

1829.  T. Moore, Hist. Devon, I. IV. i. 510. *Tongtree, the pole of an ox-cart.

1899.  Syd. Soc. Lex., *Tongue-triangle, the triangular or wedge-shaped red arch at the tip of a coated tongue seen in typhoid.

1898.  Tit-Bits, 21 May, 150/2. These little *tongue-twists … are of such small import.

1836–48.  B. D. Walsh, Aristoph., Clouds, II. i. I shall be lost, unless I learn to *tongue-twist.

1857.  Eaton (OH) Democrat, 23 April, 1/7. A *Tongue Twister.—In the last Hollander, the first line of editorial reads as follows: ‘In de voormiddaggodsdienstoefening.’ Only twenty-eight letters! It means, ‘In the morning church services.’

1898.  Echo, 1 July, 1/5. Tongue-twisters had … composed a sketch called ‘The Race.

1904.  Speaker, 4 June, 229/1. The famous tongue-twister, Miss Smith’s fish-sauce shop.

1884.  Miller, Plant-n, Schweiggeria, *tongue-violet.

1841.  Hartshorne, Salopia Antiqua, Gloss., *Tongue Walk v. to abuse or scold. Ex. ‘Pretty well tongue-walked him.’

1888.  D. C. Murray, in Illustr. Lond. News, Christmas No. 3/2. Why don’t you slang the fellow? Give him a *tongue-walking. I would, begad, if I spoke the lingo as you do.

1598.  Florio, Dict., To Rdr. 12. His labours … which … he may as iustly stand vpon in this *toong-work, as in Latin Sir Thomas Eliot, Bishop Cooper, and after them Thomas Thomas, and Iohn Rider.

a. 1661.  Holyday, Juvenal (1673), 137. Seek then some other Law-courts…: tongue-work there may fill thy purse.

1866.  Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, xx. If a man takes to tongue-work it’s all over with him.

a. 1899.  R. Wallace, Life & Last Leaves (1903), 6. Then from first to last I have done a considerable amount of penwork and tongue-work, with the result, as I imagined, of occasionally succeeding in giving those who would attend to me a bit of my mind.

1645.  Ussher, Body Div. (1647), 359. Those *tongue-wormes of swearing, blasphemy, and unreverent speaking of God.

1896.  Yearbk. U. S. Dept. Agric., 161. The Tongue worm is found encysted in the viscera of cattle, sheep, and other animals. It is about a quarter of an inch long, and when eaten by dogs grows to be 2 to 5 inches long.