Noun
(plural tungs)
- 1790, Noah Webster, “The Founders' Constitution Vol 1, Chap 15, Doc 44”, Univ. of Chicago, accessed on 2012-09-29:
- … ever exposed to their envy, and the tung of slander …
- 1832, Noah Webster, Edmund Henry Barker, A Dictionary of the English Language, edition Digitized, Black and Young, published 2010, page 542:
- Our common orthography is incorrect; the true spelling is tung.
- 1848, Jonathan Morgan, The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, edition Digitized, SH Colesworthy, published 2008, page 215:
- … words to be spoken with the understanding, that I may teach others also, than myriads of words, in a tung. ... In the law, it hath been written, That, with other tungs and other lips I will speak to this people, and then they will not hear ...
- 1872, Hugh Rowley, Sage stuffing for green goslings; or, Saws for the goose and saws, edition Digitized, published 2006, page 159:
- If they've got anything to say which they want you to hear, let 'em say it out; if not, hold their tungs.
- 2002 Fall, Richard Whelan quoting Melvil Dewey, “The American Spelling Reform Movement”, Verbatim, The Language Quarterly, volume XXVII, number 4, ISSN 0162–0932, page 5:
- English has strength, simplicity, conciseness, capacity for taking words freely from other tungs, and best of all has the greatest literature the world has yet produced.
Origin
From Middle English tung, from Old English tung, tunge (“tongue, language”), from Proto-Germanic *tungǭ (“tongue”). Liken Dutch tong, German Zunge, Swedish tunga), from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s
Noun
(plural tungs)
- A tung tree.
