Tongue meaning
The definition of a tongue is the muscular organ attached to the floor of the mouth in most animals, or something that resembles a tongue's shape.
noun
Taste Buds.
- Your tongue has thousands of taste buds located on its surface.
noun
Colors.
- If you have white on your tongue, you should get it checked out. It could be a fungus.
- A yellowish coating means that you may have either a fever or a stomach problem.
- A pale pink shade could indicate disease.
noun
Sometimes taste buds will grow too much, and you will appear to have a hairy tongue.
noun
Approximately 10% of taste buds are found on the palette and cheek.
noun
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Tongues can pick up a fifth taste, which is known as glutamate.
noun
Eating something cold changes the way that your tongue perceives taste and will often detract from the taste of whatever the next item is that you eat or drink.
noun
The nose works with the tongue to provide the taste.
noun
Function.
- The tongue is crucial to speaking, eating, and swallowing.
- The front part of the tongue is extremely flexible, and this is the part that is most often associated with the mechanism of speaking.
- The front of your tongue also moves food around your mouth so that you are able to properly chew it up.
- The muscles located in the back of your tongue are responsible for making certain sounds such as the letter "k" and the hard "g" sound.
- Muscles in the back of the tongue help to push food into the esophagus.
- Even when you sleep, your tongue keeps working to push saliva into your throat.
noun
Appearance.
- Every tongue has its own tongue print.
- The tongue is the strongest muscle in the body.
noun
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The tongue is the only muscle in the entire body that is only connected on one end.
noun
The tongue is covered by a mucus membrane.
noun
Tongues are generally rough in texture.
noun
Keeping It Healthy.
- The tongue heals the quickest of any body part.
- You should brush your tongue to keep it healthy. Bad breath quite frequently comes from your tongue.
- Almost half of all of the bacteria in the mouth live on the surface of the tongue.
noun
History.
- Tongue piercing has been around since ancient times.
- The same word is used for tongue and language in Russian, Persian, Portuguese, Spanish, Greek, Armenian, Polish, Finnish, Irish, and Latin Turkic.
An example of a tongue is the muscular part inside the mouth that helps you taste food.
An example of a tongue is part of a sneaker that gets tucked in on the top of the foot before the shoe is laced up.
noun
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Tongue is defined as a spoken language or dialect.
An example of a tongue is someone speaking Spanish at home.
noun
Tongue means to touch or lick with the tongue.
An example of to tongue is lightly tasting something with the tip of your tongue that you're not sure you'll like.
verb
The tongue of an animal, such as a cow, used as food.
noun
A spoken language or dialect.
noun
The bark or baying of a hunting dog that sees game.
The dog gave tongue when the fox came through the hedge.
noun
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Something resembling a tongue in shape or function, as:
- The vibrating end of a reed in a wind instrument.
- A flame.
- The flap of material under the laces or buckles of a shoe.
- A spit of land; a promontory.
- A bell clapper.
- The harnessing pole attached to the front axle of a horse-drawn vehicle.
noun
A protruding strip along the edge of a board that fits into a matching groove on the edge of another board.
noun
To separate or articulate (notes played on a brass or wind instrument) by shutting off the stream of air with the tongue.
verb
To scold.
verb
To articulate notes on a brass or wind instrument.
verb
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To project.
A spit of land tonguing into the bay.
verb
The movable muscular structure attached to the floor of the mouth in most vertebrates: it is an important organ in the ingestion of food, the perception of taste, and, in humans, the articulation of speech sounds.
noun
An analogous part in invertebrate animals.
- A radula.
- The proboscis in certain insects, as bees.
noun
An animal's tongue used as food.
noun
The cry of a hunting dog, etc. in sight of game.
noun
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Something resembling a tongue in shape, position, movement, or use.
- The flap under the laces or strap of a shoe.
- The clapper of a bell.
- The pin of a buckle, etc.
- The pole of a wagon, etc.
- A projecting ridge along the edge of a board, that fits into a corresponding groove on another board to form a tongue-and-groove joint.
- In machines, a projecting flange, rib, etc.
- A thin strip of flexible material, as cane, that produces a musical sound when vibrated, as in a wind instrument.
- A narrow strip of land, ice, etc. extending into a body of water, an intrusion, etc.
- A narrow inlet of water.
- A long, narrow flame.
- The pointer of a scale, etc.
noun
To touch, lick, etc. with the tongue.
verb
To play by tonguing.
verb
To talk or talk much.
verb
To project like a tongue.
verb
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To use tonguing.
verb
The fleshy, movable, muscular organ, attached in most vertebrates to the floor of the mouth, that is the principal organ of taste, an aid in chewing and swallowing, and, in humans, an important organ of speech.
noun
An analogous organ or part in invertebrate animals, as in certain insects or mollusks.
noun
A muscular organ in most vertebrates that is usually attached to the bottom of the mouth. In snakes, the tongue is used as a sense organ. In frogs, the tongue is chiefly used to capture prey. In mammals, the tongue is the main organ of taste and is an important organ of digestion. In humans, the tongue is used to produce speech.
A similar organ in certain invertebrate animals.
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The power of articulate utterance; speech generally.
noun
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Any large or long physical protrusion on an automotive or machine part or any other part that fits into a long groove on another part.
noun
A projection, or slender appendage or fixture.
The tongue of a buckle, or of a balance.
noun
A long, narrow strip of land, projecting from the mainland into a sea or lake.
noun
The pole of a vehicle; especially, the pole of an ox cart, to the end of which the oxen are yoked.
noun
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(music, intransitive) 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.
verb
To join by means of a tongue and groove.
To tongue boards together.
verb
The salt and sweet taste buds sit at the tip of the tongue, while sour are along the sides, and bitter are at the base.
noun
have
- To speak deceitfully; prevaricate or lie.
idiom
bite
- To be or keep silent.
idiom
loosen (someone's) tongue
- To cause (someone) to speak freely or carelessly or to divulge information.
idiom
lose (one's) tongue
- To lose the capacity to speak, as from shock.
idiom
on the tip of (one's) tongue
- On the verge of being recalled or expressed.
idiom
find one's tongue
- To recover the ability to talk, as after shock or embarrassment.
idiom
hold one's tongue
- To refrain from speaking.
idiom
on everyone's tongue
- Prevailing as common gossip.
idiom
on the tip of someone's tongue
- Almost said by someone.
- About to be said, esp. because almost but not quite recalled.
idiom
speak in tongues
- To engage in glossolalia.
idiom
with tongue in cheek
- In a humorously ironic, mocking, or insincere way.
idiom
Idioms and Phrasal Verbs
on everyone's tongue
on the tip of someone's tongue
with tongue in cheek
Origin of tongue
- Middle English from Old English tunge dn̥ghū- in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- From Middle English tonge, tunge, tung, from Old English tunge, from Proto-Germanic *tungÇ (“tongue") (compare West Frisian tonge, Dutch tong, German Zunge, Danish tunge, Swedish tunga), from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéhâ‚‚s (compare Irish teanga, Latin lingua, Tocharian A/B känt/kantwo, Lithuanian liežùvis, Polish jÄ™zyk 'language, tongue', Armenian Õ¬Õ¥Õ¦Õ¸Ö‚ (lezu), Sanskrit जिहà¥à¤µà¤¾ (jihvÄÌ)).
From Wiktionary