tongue

tongue¹ W3S3 [tʌŋ] n

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1¦(mouth)¦

2 click your tongue

3 sharp tongue

4 silver tongue

5 sharp-tongued/silver-tongued etc

6 with (your) tongue in (your) cheek

7 slip of the tongue

8 bite your tongue

9 Cat got your tongue?

10 get your tongue around something

11 trip/roll off the tongue

12 loosen somebody's tongue

13 find your tongue

14 set tongues wagging

15 keep a civil tongue in your head

16 speak with forked tongue

17 speak in tongues

18¦(language)¦

19¦(food)¦

20¦(shape)¦

21¦(shoe)¦

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[: Old English; Origin: tunge]

1.) ¦(MOUTH)¦

the soft part inside your mouth that you can move about and use for eating and speaking

▪ Joe ran his tongue over his dry lips.

▪ The taste of the chocolate was still on her tongue.

▪ The girl scowled at me, then stuck out her tongue .

2.) click your tongue

to make a sharp noise with your tongue to show that you are annoyed or disappointed

▪ She clicked her tongue and shook her head.

3.) sharp tongue

if you have a sharp tongue, you often talk in a way that shows you are angry

▪ Gina's sharp tongue will get her into trouble one day.

4.) silver tongue

literary if you have a silver tongue, you can talk in a way that makes people like you or persuades them that you are right

5.) sharp-tongued/silver-tongued etc

able to talk in a very angry or pleasant way

▪ a sharp-tongued young teacher

6.) with (your) tongue in (your) cheek

if you say something with your tongue in your cheek, you say it as a joke, not seriously

→↑tongue-in-cheek

7.) slip of the tongue

a small mistake in something you say

▪ Did I say $100? It must have been a slip of the tongue.

8.) bite your tongue

to stop yourself saying something because you know it would not be sensible to say it

▪ I wanted to argue, but I had to bite my tongue.

9.) Cat got your tongue? also Lost your tongue?

spoken used to ask someone why they are not talking

10.) get your tongue around sth informal

to be able to say a difficult word or phrase

▪ I couldn't get my tongue around the names of the villages we'd visited.

11.) trip/roll off the tongue informal

if a name or phrase trips or rolls off your tongue, it is easy or pleasant to say

▪ Their names trip off the tongue very easily.

12.) loosen sb's tongue informal

if something such as alcohol loosens your tongue, it makes you talk a lot

▪ The wine had certainly loosened her tongue.

13.) find your tongue informal

to say something after you have been silent for a time because you were afraid or shy

▪ Polly found her tongue at last and told them about the attack.

14.) set tongues wagging

to do something that people will talk about in an unkind way

▪ Angela's divorce will certainly set tongues wagging.

15.) keep a civil tongue in your head

old-fashioned spoken used to tell someone that they should talk politely to people

16.) speak with forked tongue

to say things that are not true - used humorously

17.) speak in tongues

to talk using strange words as part of a religious experience

18.) ¦(LANGUAGE)¦

literary a language

▪ Anton lapsed into his own tongue when he was excited.

mother/native tongue

(=the language you learn as a child)

▪ She felt more comfortable talking in her native tongue.

19.) ¦(FOOD)¦[U]

the tongue of a cow or sheep, cooked and eaten cold

20.)¦(SHAPE)¦

something that has a long thin shape

tongue of

▪ Huge tongues of fire were licking the side of the building.

21.) ¦(SHOE)¦

the part of a shoe that lies on top of your foot, under the part where you tie it

→on the tip of your tongue at ↑tip¹ (5), hold your tongue at ↑hold¹ (29)

tongue ²

tongue² v

1.) [I and T]

to use your tongue to make separate sounds when playing a musical instrument

2.) [T]

to touch something with your tongue