tongue Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a mobile mass of muscular tissue covered with mucous membrane and located in the oral cavity
    clapper; lingua; glossa.
  2. noun a human written or spoken language used by a community; opposed to e.g. a computer language
    natural language.
  3. noun any long thin projection that is transient
    knife.
    • tongues of flame licked at the walls
    • rifles exploded quick knives of fire into the dark
  4. noun a manner of speaking
    • he spoke with a thick tongue
    • she has a glib tongue
  5. noun a narrow strip of land that juts out into the sea
    spit.
  6. noun the tongue of certain animals used as meat
  7. noun the flap of material under the laces of a shoe or boot
  8. noun metal striker that hangs inside a bell and makes a sound by hitting the side
    clapper.
  9. verb articulate by tonguing, as when playing wind instruments
  10. verb lick or explore with the tongue

WordNet

Tongue noun
Etymology
OE. tunge, tonge, AS. tunge; akin to OFries. tunge, D. tong, OS. tunga, G. zunge, OHG. zunga, Icel. & Sw. tunga, Dan tunge, Goth. tug, OL. dingua, L. lingua. 243 Cf.Language, Lingo.
Definitions
  1. (Anat.) an organ situated in the floor of the mouth of most vertebrates and connected with the hyoid arch. ✍ 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. (Zoöl.) (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. (Zoöl.) 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 sort 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. Syn. -- Language; speech; expression. See Language.
Tongue transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Tongued ; present participle & verbal noun Tonguing
Definitions
  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 intransitive verb
Definitions
  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.

Webster 1913