tongue
tongue /t'ʌŋ/ (tongues)
1 [N-COUNT] usu poss N
Your tongue is the soft movable part inside your mouth which you use for tasting, eating, and speaking.
I walked over to the mirror and stuck my tongue out...
She ran her tongue around her lips.
2 [N-COUNT] usu supp N
You can use tongue to refer to the kind of things that a person says.
She had a nasty tongue, but I liked her.
3 [N-COUNT]
A tongue is a language. (LITERARY)
The French feel passionately about their native tongue.
see also mother tongue
= language
4 [N-VAR]
Tongue is the cooked tongue of an ox or sheep. It is usually eaten cold.
5 [N-COUNT]
The tongue of a shoe or boot is the piece of leather which is underneath the laces.
6 [N-COUNT] N of n
A tongue of something such as fire or land is a long thin piece of it. (LITERARY)
A yellow tongue of flame shot upwards.
7 [PHRASE] PHR n, v-link PHR, PHR after v
A tongue-in-cheek remark or attitude is not serious, although it may seem to be.
...a lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek approach...
8 [PHRASE] V inflects
If you hold your tongue, you do not say anything even though you might want to or be expected to, because it is the wrong time to say it.
Douglas held his tongue, preferring not to speak out on a politically sensitive issue.
9 [PHRASE] slip inflects
If you describe something you said as a slip of the tongue, you mean that you said it by mistake.
At one stage he referred to Anna as John's fiancée, but later said that was a slip of the tongue.
10
to bite your tongue: see bitemoth|er tongue (mother tongues)
also mother-tongue
[N-COUNT] oft poss N
Your mother tongue is the language that you learn from your parents when you are a baby.
= native tonguesharp tongue (sharp tongues)
[N-COUNT]
If you say that someone has a sharp tongue, you are critical of the fact that they say things which are unkind though often clever.
Despite her sharp tongue, she inspires loyalty from her friends.
1 [N-COUNT] usu poss N
Your tongue is the soft movable part inside your mouth which you use for tasting, eating, and speaking.
I walked over to the mirror and stuck my tongue out...
She ran her tongue around her lips.
2 [N-COUNT] usu supp N
You can use tongue to refer to the kind of things that a person says.
She had a nasty tongue, but I liked her.
3 [N-COUNT]
A tongue is a language. (LITERARY)
The French feel passionately about their native tongue.
see also mother tongue
= language
4 [N-VAR]
Tongue is the cooked tongue of an ox or sheep. It is usually eaten cold.
5 [N-COUNT]
The tongue of a shoe or boot is the piece of leather which is underneath the laces.
6 [N-COUNT] N of n
A tongue of something such as fire or land is a long thin piece of it. (LITERARY)
A yellow tongue of flame shot upwards.
7 [PHRASE] PHR n, v-link PHR, PHR after v
A tongue-in-cheek remark or attitude is not serious, although it may seem to be.
...a lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek approach...
8 [PHRASE] V inflects
If you hold your tongue, you do not say anything even though you might want to or be expected to, because it is the wrong time to say it.
Douglas held his tongue, preferring not to speak out on a politically sensitive issue.
9 [PHRASE] slip inflects
If you describe something you said as a slip of the tongue, you mean that you said it by mistake.
At one stage he referred to Anna as John's fiancée, but later said that was a slip of the tongue.
10
to bite your tongue: see bitemoth|er tongue (mother tongues)
also mother-tongue
[N-COUNT] oft poss N
Your mother tongue is the language that you learn from your parents when you are a baby.
= native tonguesharp tongue (sharp tongues)
[N-COUNT]
If you say that someone has a sharp tongue, you are critical of the fact that they say things which are unkind though often clever.
Despite her sharp tongue, she inspires loyalty from her friends.