tongue

Study(26)

/tʌŋ/

noun 5verb 5name 2

Collocations

(noun.) soft part inside the mouth

ADJ

forked

loose, sharp

My boss has a sharp tongue, so the team tries to avoid meetings with her when she's upset.

VERB + TONGUE

poke/put/stick out

The child poked her tongue out playfully while making a funny face at the camera.

run

She ran her tongue across her teeth to check for food after lunch.

click/cluck

bite, hold

During the meeting, he held his tongue even though he disagreed with the decision.

free, loosen

After a few drinks at the party, he finally freed his tongue and told everyone what he really thought.

roll/slip/trip off

The actor's character name was so long and difficult that it never rolled off the tongue during interviews.

TONGUE + VERB

hang out

After the marathon, the runners sat exhausted on the grass with their tongues hanging out.

flick, flicker

A nervous habit of his was to flick his tongue across his lips when speaking to strangers.

lick sth

She licked her tongue across her teeth to remove the popcorn stuck between them.

wag

When the new manager arrived late every day, tongues began to wag around the office.

find

After the surprise announcement, it took him several minutes to find his tongue and respond.

watch

She needs to watch her tongue when she talks to her boss about the project.

PHRASES

be on the tip of your tongue

I had the answer on the tip of my tongue but couldn't quite remember it.

get your tongue around/round sth

She found it difficult to get her tongue around the French pronunciation at first.

a tongue of fire/flame

The fire spread quickly, with tongues of flame reaching toward the wooden roof.

(noun.) a language

ADJ

mother, native

My mother tongue is Spanish, but I've lived in England for ten years.

foreign | strange

PREP

in a/the ~

The doctor asked me to say "ah" while she looked at my tongue.

PHRASES

speak in tongues

Definitions

noun

The flexible muscular organ in the mouth that is used to move food around, for tasting and that is moved into various positions to modify the flow of air from the lungs in order to produce different sounds in speech.

But lering and lurking here and there like ſpies,

Such an organ, as taken from animals and used for food (especially from cows).

cold tongue with mustard

However you eat them, tongue and chicken and new bread are very good things, and no one minds being sprinkled a little with soda-water on a really fine hot day.

Any similar organ, such as the lingual ribbon, or odontophore, of a mollusk; the proboscis of a moth or butterfly; or the lingua of an insect.

A language.

He was speaking in his native tongue.

[…] that great Towre, which is so much renownd For tongues confusion in holie writ,

The speakers of a language, collectively.

I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

verb

On a wind instrument, to articulate a note by starting the air with a tap of the tongue, as though by speaking a 'd' or 't' sound (alveolar plosive).

Playing wind instruments involves tonguing on the reed or mouthpiece.

To manipulate with the tongue.

[T]he cattle tongued at the damp grass, licking rather than grazing. […]

To manipulate with the tongue.

Hot I tongued her. She kissed me. I was kissed. All yielding she tossed my hair. Kissed, she kissed me.

I was tonguing her ear and serenading her in a passionate whisper, mimicking Elvis, mimicking Joey.

To protrude in relatively long, narrow sections.

a soil horizon that tongues into clay

To join by means of a tongue and groove.

to tongue boards together

name

A village by the Kyle of Tongue in Sutherland, Highland council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NC5956).

A surname.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

noun — metal striker that hangs inside a bell and makes a sound by

clapper

noun — a mobile mass of muscular tissue covered with mucous membran

noun — a narrow strip of land that juts out into the sea

spit

noun — any long thin projection that is transient

knife

Antonyms

Idioms & Phrases

silver tongue

The trait of being articulate and clever at speaking, often in a deceitful way.

[H]e passed into the saloon, where Nina presided; and here his fair person and silver tongue […

slip of the tongue

A mistake in speech.

It was an unfortunate slip of the tongue, and he did not intend it that way.

hold one's tongue

To refrain from talking about something.

I don't like his political ideas, but I will hold my tongue.

bite one's tongue

To resist the urge to speak out, especially in order to avoid saying something inappropriate or likely to cause a dispute.

She wanted to go see a movie called Gigi, which I was not too thrilled about. But being a gentleman, I bit my tongue and said, “Okay.”

cat got someone's tongue

Why is someone not saying anything?

Why won't you tell me that secret? (Has the) cat got your tongue?

Example Bank

But lering and lurking here and there like ſpies,

Wiktionary

cold tongue with mustard

Wiktionary

However you eat them, tongue and chicken and new bread are very good things, and no one minds being sprinkled a little with soda-water on a really fine hot day.

Wiktionary

Playing wind instruments involves tonguing on the reed or mouthpiece.

Wiktionary

[T]he cattle tongued at the damp grass, licking rather than grazing. […]

Wiktionary

Hot I tongued her. She kissed me. I was kissed. All yielding she tossed my hair. Kissed, she kissed me.

Wiktionary

Usage Notes

i Register

In some senses, tongue is marked as obsolete, slang, vulgar. Watch for register when choosing this word.

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