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tongue

Definition

  • noun: the soft, movable part in the mouth that is used for tasting and eating food and in human beings for speaking
  • noun: 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
  • verb: to produce separate notes when you are blowing air through a musical instrument (such as a trumpet) by using your tongue to briefly stop the flow of air
  • verb: to touch or lick with or as if with the tongue
  • + 'of'
  • synonyms: expression, speech, language

Examples

  • I thought she was acting foolishly, but I 'bit my tongue' [='held my tongue'] and didn't say anything.

  • The news of their engagement 'set tongues wagging'. = 'Tongues were wagging' over their engagement.

  • He speaks English fluently but his 'mother tongue' [='native language, first language'] is Chinese.

Movie clips

Movie quotes

  • (..) It was going fantastic for me. And then what? And then I found out my son spent the last year being the school punching bag... ...and watched my daughter get a tongue bath from a psychopathic jackass. High school's delightful, isn't it? Yeah. But I think I was wrong about my spirit path. NED: (..)
    2009 17 Again