# tonguing

Pronunciation: say "TUNG-ing" /ˈtʌŋɪŋ/

## Verb

1. Present participle of tongue. — present participle and gerund of tongue
   - Simple: Present participle of tongue. Use this form when the action is happening now or as a name for the activity.
   - _The trumpeter kept tonguing the same phrase until it sounded clean._
   - _Skilled players vary their tonguing depending on the articulation a passage demands._

## Noun

2. A licking or lapping motion made with the tongue.
   - Simple: The act of licking or lapping at something with the tongue.
   - _The cat's patient tonguing smoothed every hair back into place._
   - _A steady tonguing of the salt block wore a shallow groove into its surface._
3. A technique on wind instruments in which the player uses the tongue against the reed or mouthpiece to articulate separate notes.
   - Simple: A way of playing a wind instrument where the tongue starts each note clearly.
   - _The clarinet teacher worked on tonguing for the entire lesson._
   - _Rapid tonguing gave the passage its bright, detached sound._
4. The cutting away of strips of blubber during the butchering of a whale.
   - Simple: The job of cutting long strips of fat from a whale while it is being butchered.
   - _The tonguing went on for hours as the men sliced the blubber into long strips._
   - _During the tonguing, blubber was peeled from the carcass in great sheets._

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