Meaning of lay one's tongue to | Babel Free

Definitions

To say; to name; to think of to say.

dated, idiomatic, slang

Examples

“Mr Lightwood, I will now name to you, that on behalf of the poor dear boy, me and Mrs Boffin have stood out against the old man times out of number, till he has called us every name he could lay his tongue to.”

“He’s been dabbling in every sort of fool thing you can lay your tongue to,—wild-cat stocks, patent-rights, land speculations, oil claims,—till he’s run through about everything.”

“He was a terrible man. You couldn’t lay your tongue to a wickedness he had not been in the forefront of—drinking, duelling, gambling,—all manner of sins had been meat and drink to him since he was a boy almost.”

“Your face I have seen, and your coat-armor also, young sir, though I cannot lay my tongue to your name.”

“Canaille! Canaglia! Schweinerei! He loathed them in all the languages he could lay his tongue to.”

“Now it’s none of my business […] to try to make a man’s mind up for him between two girls. His politics I’ll lecture him on while my breath lasts, but the other thing I won’t lay my tongue to.”

CEFR level