tongue

I. noun Etymology: Middle English tunge, from Old English; akin to Old High German zunga tongue, Latin lingua Date: before 12th century 1. a. a fleshy movable muscular process of the floor of the mouths of most vertebrates that bears sensory end organs and small glands and functions especially in taking and swallowing food and in humans as a speech organ b. a part of various invertebrate animals that is analogous to the tongue 2. the flesh of a tongue (as of the ox or sheep) used as food 3. the power of communication through speech 4. a. language; especially a spoken language b. manner or quality of utterance with respect to tone or sound, the sense of what is expressed, or the intention of the speaker <

she has a clever tongue

> <

a sharp tongue

> c. ecstatic usually unintelligible utterance usually accompanying religious excitation — usually used in plural d. the cry of or as if of a hound pursuing or in sight of game — used especially in the phrase to give tongue 5. a tapering flame <

tongues of fire

> 6. a long narrow strip of land projecting into a body of water 7. something resembling an animal's tongue in being elongated and fastened at one end only: as a. a movable pin in a buckle b. a metal ball suspended inside a bell so as to strike against the sides as the bell is swung c. the pole of a vehicle d. the flap under the lacing or buckles of a shoe at the throat of the vamp 8. a. the rib on one edge of a board that fits into a corresponding groove in an edge of another board to make a flush joint b. feather 4 • tonguelike adjective II. verb (tongued; tonguing) Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. archaic scold 2. to touch or lick with or as if with the tongue 3. a. to cut a tongue on <

tongue a board

> b. to join (as boards) by means of a tongue and groove <

tongue flooring together

> 4. to articulate (notes) by tonguing intransitive verb 1. to project in a tongue 2. to articulate notes on a wind instrument by successively interrupting the stream of wind with the action of the tongue