Tongs
(Tongs) n. pl. [OE. tonge, tange, AS. tange; akin to D. tang, G. zanga, OHG. zanga, Don.
tang, Sw. tång, Icel. töng, Gr. da`knein to bite, Skr. dañiç, daç. &radic59. Cf. Tang
a strong taste, anything projecting.] An instrument, usually of metal, consisting of two parts, or long
shafts, jointed together at or near one end, or united by an elastic bow, used for handling things, especially
hot coals or metals; — often called a pair of tongs.
Tongue
(Tongue) n. [OE. tunge, tonge, AS. tunge; akin to OFries. tunge, D. tong, OS. tunga, G.
zunge, OHG. zunga, Icel. & Sw. tunga, Dan tunge, Goth. tuggo, OL. dingua, L. lingua. &radic243
Cf.Language, Lingo. ]
1. (Anat.) an organ situated in the floor of the mouth of most vertebrates and connected with the hyoid
arch.
The tongue is usually muscular, mobile, and free at one extremity, and in man other mammals is the
principal organ of taste, aids in the prehension of food, in swallowing, and in modifying the voice as in
speech.
To make his English sweet upon his tongue.
Chaucer. 2. The power of articulate utterance; speech.
Parrots imitating human tongue.
Dryden. 3. Discourse; fluency of speech or expression.
Much tongue and much judgment seldom go together.
L. Estrange. 4. Honorable discourse; eulogy. [Obs.]
She was born noble; let that title find her a private grave, but neither tongue nor honor.
Beau. & Fl. 5. A language; the whole sum of words used by a particular nation; as, the English tongue. Chaucer.
Whose tongue thou shalt not understand.
Deut. xxviii. 49.
To speak all tongues.
Milton. 6. Speech; words or declarations only; — opposed to thoughts or actions.
My little children, let us love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
1 John iii. 18. 7. A people having a distinct language.
A will gather all nations and tongues.
Isa. lxvi. 18. 8. (Zoöl.) (a) The lingual ribbon, or odontophore, of a mollusk. (b) The proboscis of a moth or a butterfly.
(c) The lingua of an insect.
9. (Zoöl.) Any small sole.
10. That which is considered as resembing an animal's tongue, in position or form. Specifically: —
(a) A projection, or slender appendage or fixture; as, the tongue of a buckle, or of a balance.
(b) A projection on the side, as of a board, which fits into a groove.
(c) A point, or long, narrow strip of land, projecting from the mainland into a sea or a lake.
