HomeServicesBlogDictionariesContactSpanish Course
← Back to search

Meaning of tongue | Babel Free

Noun CEFR B1 Frequent
tʌŋ

Definitions

  1. The flexible muscular organ in the mouth that is used to move food around, for tasting and that is moved into various positions to modify the flow of air from the lungs in order to produce different sounds in speech.
    countable, uncountable
  2. The flexible muscular organ in the mouth that is used to move food around, for tasting and that is moved into various positions to modify the flow of air from the lungs in order to produce different sounds in speech
  3. A village by the Kyle of Tongue in Sutherland, Highland council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NC5956).
    countable, uncountable
  4. Such an organ, as taken from animals and used for food (especially from cows).
    countable, uncountable
  5. Such an organ, as taken from animals and used for food (especially from cows)
  6. A surname.
    countable, uncountable
  7. Any similar organ, such as the lingual ribbon, or odontophore, of a mollusk; the proboscis of a moth or butterfly; or the lingua of an insect.
    countable, uncountable
  8. Any similar organ, such as the lingual ribbon, or odontophore, of a mollusk; the proboscis of a moth or butterfly; or the lingua of an insect
  9. A language.
    countable, metonymically, uncountable
  10. A language
  11. The speakers of a language, collectively.
    countable, obsolete, uncountable
  12. The speakers of a language, collectively
  13. A voice, (the distinctive sound of a person's speech); accent (distinctive manner of pronouncing a language).
    countable, obsolete, uncountable
  14. A manner of speaking, often habitually.
    countable, uncountable
  15. A person speaking in a specified manner.
    countable, plural-normally, uncountable
  16. The power of articulate utterance; speech generally.
    countable, uncountable
  17. Discourse; the fluency of speech or expression.
    countable, obsolete, uncountable
  18. Discourse; fluency of speech or expression.
    obsolete, uncountable
  19. Honorable discourse; eulogy.
    countable, obsolete, uncountable
  20. Glossolalia.
    countable, in-plural, often, uncountable
  21. In a shoe, the flap of material that goes between the laces and the foot (so called because it resembles a tongue in the mouth).
    countable, uncountable
  22. 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.
    countable, uncountable
  23. A projection, or slender appendage or fixture.
    countable, uncountable
  24. A long, narrow strip of land, projecting from the mainland into a sea or lake.
    countable, uncountable
  25. The pole of a towed or drawn vehicle or farm implement (e.g., trailer, cart, plow, harrow), by which it is pulled; for example, the pole of an ox cart, to the end of which the oxen are yoked.
    countable, uncountable
  26. The clapper of a bell.
    countable, uncountable
  27. An individual point of flame from a fire.
    countable, figuratively, uncountable
  28. A small sole (type of fish).
    countable, uncountable
  29. A short piece of rope spliced into the upper part of standing backstays, etc.; also, the upper main piece of a mast composed of several pieces.
    countable, uncountable
  30. A reed.
    countable, uncountable
  31. A division of formation; A layer or member of a formation that pinches out in one direction.
    countable, uncountable
  32. The middle protrusion of a triple-tailed flag.
    countable, uncountable

Equivalents

العربية اللّسان
Български език
Bosanski dil jezyk
Čeština jazyk
Cymraeg clust
Deutsch Lasche Zunge
Ελληνικά γλώσσα
Français languette timon Tongue
Gàidhlig teanga
Hrvatski dil jezyk
Հայերեն լեզվակ
Íslenska tunga
Italiano linguetta timone
日本語 たん 舌革
Kurdî dîl dil
Nederlands tong
Polski język
Português língua
Română limbă
Русский язычок
Slovenčina jazyk
Српски dil jezyk
Svenska plös tunga
Kiswahili ulimi
Türkçe dil
中文 鞋拔

Examples

“But lering and lurking here and there like ſpies,”
“cold tongue with mustard”
“However you eat them, tongue and chicken and new bread are very good things, and no one minds being sprinkled a little with soda-water on a really fine hot day.”
“He was speaking in his native tongue.”
“[…] that great Towre, which is so much renownd For tongues confusion in holie writ,”
“When I pointed to any thing, she told me the Name of it in her own Tongue, so that in a few Days I was able to call for whatever I had a mind to.”
“To dwell on a heath without studying its meanings was like wedding a foreigner without learning his tongue.”
““You should read Spanish,” he said. “It is a noble tongue. […]””
“If you do not speak English I am at your disposal with 187 other languages along with their various dialects and sub-tongues.”
“Many of them come from distant places and although they speak your tongue they are ignorant of your customs.”
“My grandfather, accustomed to the multifarious conjugations of ancient Greek verbs, had found English, for all its incoherence, a relatively simple tongue to master.”
“I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.”
“Who are you? Tell me, for more certainty, Albeit I’ll swear that I do know your tongue.”
“[...] one of [the prisoners], whom by his tongue I knew to be a Scotchman, lamented most piteously [...]”
“Al maters wel pondred and wel to be regarded, How ſhuld a fals lying tung then be rewarded?”
“[...] his wicked way of Living, his prophane Tongue, and his Contempt of Religion, had made him not very well receiv’d [...]”
“"Well," said he, at last, "your tongue is bold; but I am no unfriend to plainness [...]"”
“I’m afraid I’ve inherited my uncle’s tongue and my mother’s want of tact.”
“Samuel had no equal for soothing hysteria and bringing quiet to a frightened child. It was the sweetness of his tongue and the tenderness of his soul.”
“[...] Frank Marcus’ Sister George, technically a quite ordinary comedy in the old style [...] was remarkable [...] for the frank tongue of its Lesbians [...]”
“I know that we must keep apart for a long while; cruel tongues would force us apart, if nothing else did.”
“[…] it was obvious to his listeners that Pittypat, in his mind, was still a plump and charming miss of sixteen who must be sheltered against evil tongues.”
“2007, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Wizard of the Crow, New York: Knopf Doubleday, Book 4, p. 592, … the drunk, who had been a permanent fixture in that bar, changed location and thereafter moved from bar to bar, saying to inquisitive tongues, Too long a stay in one seat tires the buttocks.”
“Parrots imitating Human Tongue”
“[...] fellows, soldiers, friends, Better consider what you have to do Than I, that have not well the gift of tongue, Can lift your blood up with persuasion.”
“Much Tongue, and much Judgment seldom go together, for Talking and Thinking are Two Quite Differing Faculties,”
““[...] this Mr. Grandcourt has wonderful little tongue. Everything must be done dummy-like without his ordering.” “Then he’s the more whip, I doubt,” said Mrs. Girdle. “She’s got tongue enough, I warrant her [...]””
“She was born noble; let that title find her A private grave, but neither tongue nor honour!”
“Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.”
“I caught a glimpse of a brown boot, the tongue flapping, the sole tied on with string.”
“[...] her low-heeled shoes had flat fringed tongues to them—the kind of shoes you expected to see on a golf-course, or a Scottish highland, somewhere expensively hearty like that.”
“the tongue of a buckle, or of a balance”
“On one side was a coral reef; on the other a low tongue of land, covered with mangrove thickets that grew out into the water.”
“Far to the right, where the main pile sloped out, his cart reared tongue upward, like a plow.”
“The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve:”
“[...] the bell clanged so loud that he could hear the iron tongue clapping against the metal sides each time it swung to and fro [...]”
“Then up a steep and dark and narrow stair We wound, until the torches’ fiery tongue Amid the gushing day beamless and pallid hung.”
“Now, in this decadent age the art of fire-making had been altogether forgotten on the earth. The red tongues that went licking up my heap of wood were an altogether new and strange thing to Weena.”

CEFR level

B1
Intermediate
This word is part of the CEFR B1 vocabulary — intermediate level.
See all B1 English words →

See also

Learn this word in context

See tongue used in real conversations inside our free language course.

Start Free Course

Know this word better than we do? Language is a living thing — help us keep it growing. Collaborate with Babel Free