Tongue , v. i. 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.
Tongue (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tongued (?); p. pr. &
vb. n. Tonguing.]
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 (?), n. [OE.
tunge, tonge, AS. tunge; akin to OFries. tunge, D. tong, OS. tunga, G. zunge, OHG.
zunga, Icel. & Sw. tunga, Dan
tunge, Goth. tuggō, OL. dingua, L. lingua. √243 Cf.Language, Lingo.
]
1. (Anat.) an
organ situated in the floor of
the mouth of most vertebrates and connected with the hyoid arch.
&fist; 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 short 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.
To hold the tongue, to be silent. -- Tongue bone (Anat.),
the hyoid bone. -- Tongue grafting. See under Grafting.
Syn. -- Language; speech; expression. See Language.
Hear it pronounced