# tongue

Pronunciation: say "TUNG" /tʌŋ/

## Noun

1. The flexible muscular organ in the mouth, used to move food around, to taste, and to shape the sounds of speech.
   - Simple: The soft, movable part inside your mouth that helps you taste, eat, and talk.
   - _She clicked her tongue in disapproval._
   - _A cat's tongue feels rough because of tiny backward-facing spines._
2. A language, especially one regarded as belonging to a particular people or nation.
   - Simple: A language that a group of people speak.
   - _The poet wrote in his native tongue rather than the colonial language._
   - _Travelers often struggle to learn the local tongue._
3. Meat taken from the tongue of an animal, especially a cow, used as food.
   - Simple: Meat made from the tongue of an animal, often a cow.
   - _The butcher recommended braising the tongue slowly for several hours._
   - _Sliced tongue is a traditional sandwich filling in many delis._
4. In a shoe, the flap of material lying between the laces and the foot.
   - Simple: The soft flap inside a shoe that sits under the laces, on top of your foot.
   - _A well-cushioned tongue keeps the laces from digging into your foot._
   - _The hiking boot's tongue was stitched to keep out debris._
5. A manner of speaking, often a habitual one.
   - Simple: A way of speaking, especially one a person uses often.
   - _A bitter tongue had cost him more than one friendship._
   - _She greeted the guests with the honeyed tongue of a practiced host._
6. The power of speech, or the act or fluency of speaking.
   - Simple: The ability to speak, or the way words flow when someone speaks.
   - _After a second glass of wine began to loosen his tongue, he told us stories about his years at sea._
   - _Only with effort did she recover her tongue after the shocking news._
7. Speech uttered in religious worship and believed to be divinely inspired, either in a language the speaker never learned or in sounds that form no known language.
   - Simple: Speech during worship in sounds or a language the speaker never learned, believed to be a gift from God.
   - _The congregation erupted in tongues during the revival._
   - _He believed the unknown tongue he spoke was a heavenly gift._
9. A narrow part that sticks out from a larger object, such as the pin of a buckle or the edge of a board that fits into a groove.
   - Simple: A thin part that sticks out from something, like the pin of a buckle or the edge of a floorboard.
   - _He pulled the belt tighter than usual and slid the buckle's tongue through the last hole._
   - _A long tongue of rock jutted from the cliff over the valley._
11. An individual pointed flame rising from a larger fire.
   - Simple: A single pointed flame rising from a fire.
   - _Tongues of flame curled around the burning logs._
   - _A bright tongue of fire shot up as the gas ignited._
12. A narrow, elongated piece of land that juts out into a lake or the sea from the mainland.
   - Simple: A long, thin strip of land that reaches out into a sea or lake.
   - _The lighthouse stood at the end of a rocky tongue reaching into the sea._
   - _A tongue of marshland separated the harbor from the open water._
10. The pole at the front of a cart, trailer, or plow by which animals or a vehicle pull it.
   - Simple: The long pole at the front of a cart or trailer, used to pull it.
   - _He lifted the heavy tongue of the trailer to attach it to the hitch._
   - _The cart's tongue had splintered, so the team could not be yoked to it._
13. A person regarded in terms of speaking in a particular manner.
   - Simple: A person seen in terms of the way they speak.
   - _He was the sharpest tongue in the newsroom, and few reporters dared to cross him._
   - _Within a week, the town's wagging tongues were saying she had married him for his money._
20. The clapper of a bell: the swinging piece inside that strikes the sides to produce sound.
   - Simple: The metal piece that hangs inside a bell and strikes it to make sound.
   - _With every swing, the bell's heavy iron tongue struck the bronze rim and sent a deep note across the valley._
   - _The cracked tongue produced a dull, flat note instead of a clear ring._

## Verb

8. To lick, probe or caress someone with the tongue during kissing or oral sex. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To lick or touch someone with your tongue while kissing or having sex.
   - _She tongued his lips slowly._
   - _The two would tongue each other passionately._
14. To feel, lick, explore, or shift something with one's tongue.
   - Simple: To use your tongue to touch, lick, feel, or move something.
   - _She tongued a stray popcorn kernel out from between her back teeth._
   - _Young children often tongue the gap where a baby tooth used to be._
15. To join pieces together by means of a tongue and groove.
   - Simple: To join two pieces of wood by fitting a strip on one into a groove on the other.
16. To stick out or extend in relatively long, narrow sections.
   - Simple: To stick out in long, thin strips or sections.
   - _Glaciers tongue down between the mountain peaks toward the valley floor._
   - _The fire tongued upward along the dry timber._
17. On a wind instrument, to begin a note by interrupting the air with a tap of the tongue, as if speaking a 'd' or 't' sound.
   - Simple: To start a note on a wind instrument by tapping the tongue, like saying a 'd' or 't' sound.
   - _The trumpeter tongued each staccato note with precision._
   - _Players must tongue rapidly to keep the rhythm crisp._

## Noun

18. A person's voice, the distinctive sound of their speech; also, an accent or distinctive way of pronouncing a language. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The sound of someone's voice, or their accent.
19. The whole body of people who speak a particular language, considered together. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: All the people who speak a language, taken together.
22. Honorable discourse spoken in praise of someone; a eulogy. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Speech that praises and honors someone, such as a eulogy.

## Verb

21. To talk, especially to chatter or prate idly. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To talk on and on, often about nothing.

## Other meanings

- (noun) Any organ resembling a tongue, such as the lingual ribbon (radula) of a mollusk, the proboscis of a moth or butterfly, or the lingua of an insect.
- (noun) The reed of a wind instrument or organ: the thin strip that vibrates to make the sound.
- (noun) A small sole; a type of small, flat sea fish.
- (noun) A layer or subdivision of a rock formation that thins out and disappears in one direction.
- (noun) The central projection of a flag whose fly edge ends in three tails.
- (noun) A short length of rope spliced into the upper part of a standing backstay; also, the uppermost main piece of a built-up mast.
- (verb) To say or pronounce something aloud.
- (verb) To scold or rebuke someone.

## Origin

From Middle English tonge, from Old English tunge, from Proto-Germanic *tungǭ, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root. It is related to German Zunge, Dutch tong, and Latin lingua, and is a doublet of langue and lingua. The 'ue' spelling appeared in late Middle English, apparently to stop the word being read with a soft g.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/tongue (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).