TONGUE

Pronunciation (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tongue mean? 

• TONGUE (noun)
  The noun TONGUE has 8 senses:

1. a mobile mass of muscular tissue covered with mucous membrane and located in the oral cavity
2. a human written or spoken language used by a community; opposed to e.g. a computer language
3. any long thin projection that is transient
4. a manner of speaking
5. a narrow strip of land that juts out into the sea
6. the tongue of certain animals used as meat
7. the flap of material under the laces of a shoe or boot
8. metal striker that hangs inside a bell and makes a sound by hitting the side

  Familiarity information: TONGUE used as a noun is common.

• TONGUE (verb)
  The verb TONGUE has 2 senses:

1. articulate by tonguing, as when playing wind instruments
2. lick or explore with the tongue

  Familiarity information: TONGUE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TONGUE (noun)

Sense 1

tongue [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

A mobile mass of muscular tissue covered with mucous membrane and located in the oral cavity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

glossa; lingua; tongue; clapper

Hypernyms ("tongue" is a kind of...):

organ (a fully differentiated structural and functional unit in an animal that is specialized for some particular function)

articulator (a movable speech organ)

Meronyms (parts of "tongue"):

gustatory organ; taste bud; tastebud (an oval sensory end organ on the surface of the tongue)

Holonyms ("tongue" is a part of...):

mouth; oral cavity; oral fissure; rima oris (the opening through which food is taken in and vocalizations emerge)

pharynx; throat (the passage to the stomach and lungs; in the front part of the neck below the chin and above the collarbone)

Sense 2

tongue [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

A human written or spoken language used by a community; opposed to e.g. a computer language

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

natural language; tongue

Hypernyms ("tongue" is a kind of...):

language; linguistic communication (a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tongue"):

Elamite; Elamitic; Susian (an extinct ancient language of unknown affinities; spoken by the Elamites)

Basque (the language of the Basque people; of no known relation to any other language)

Ural-Altaic (a (postulated) group of languages including many of the indigenous languages of Russia (but not Russian))

Indo-European; Indo-European language; Indo-Hittite (the family of languages that by 1000 BC were spoken throughout Europe and in parts of southwestern and southern Asia)

Cassite; Kassite (an ancient language spoken by the Kassites)

Caucasian; Caucasian language (a number of languages spoken in the Caucasus that have no known affiliations to languages spoken elsewhere)

Dravidian; Dravidian language; Dravidic (a large family of languages spoken in south and central India and Sri Lanka)

Afrasian; Afrasian language; Afro-Asiatic; Afroasiatic; Afroasiatic language; Hamito-Semitic (a large family of related languages spoken both in Asia and Africa)

Niger-Kordofanian; Niger-Kordofanian language (the family of languages that includes most of the languages spoken in Africa south of the Sahara; the majority of them are tonal languages but there are important exceptions (e.g., Swahili or Fula))

Nilo-Saharan; Nilo-Saharan language (a family of East African languages spoken by Nilotic peoples from the Sahara south to Kenya and Tanzania)

Khoisan; Khoisan language (a family of languages spoken in southern Africa)

Papuan; Papuan language (any of the indigenous languages spoken in Papua New Guinea or New Britain or the Solomon Islands that are not Malayo-Polynesian languages)

first language; maternal language; mother tongue (one's native language; the language learned by children and passed from one generation to the next)

tonal language; tone language (a language in which different tones distinguish different meanings)

creole (a mother tongue that originates from contact between two languages)

American Indian; American-Indian language; Amerind; Amerindian language; Indian (any of the languages spoken by Amerindians)

Eskimo-Aleut; Eskimo-Aleut language (the family of languages that includes Eskimo and Aleut)

Chukchi; Chukchi language (an indigenous and isolated language of unknown origin spoken by the Chukchi that is pronounced differently by men and women)

Sino-Tibetan; Sino-Tibetan language (the family of tonal languages spoken in eastern Asia)

Austro-Asiatic; Austro-Asiatic language; Munda-Mon-Khmer (a family of languages spoken in southern and southeastern Asia)

Hmong; Hmong language; Miao (a language of uncertain affiliation spoken by the Hmong)

Austronesian; Austronesian language (the family of languages spoken in Australia and Formosa and Malaysia and Polynesia)

Sense 3

tongue [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Any long thin projection that is transient

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

knife; tongue

Context examples:

tongues of flame licked at the walls / rifles exploded quick knives of fire into the dark

Hypernyms ("tongue" is a kind of...):

projection (any solid convex shape that juts out from something)

Sense 4

tongue [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

A manner of speaking

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context examples:

he spoke with a thick tongue / she has a glib tongue

Hypernyms ("tongue" is a kind of...):

delivery; manner of speaking; speech (your characteristic style or manner of expressing yourself orally)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tongue"):

sharp tongue (a bitter or critical manner of speaking)

Sense 5

tongue [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

A narrow strip of land that juts out into the sea

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

spit; tongue

Hypernyms ("tongue" is a kind of...):

cape; ness (a strip of land projecting into a body of water)

Meronyms (substance of "tongue"):

sand (a loose material consisting of grains of rock or coral)

Sense 6

tongue [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

The tongue of certain animals used as meat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("tongue" is a kind of...):

organs; variety meat (edible viscera of a butchered animal)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tongue"):

beef tongue (the tongue of a cow eaten as meat)

calf's tongue (the tongue of a calf eaten as meat)

Sense 7

tongue [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

The flap of material under the laces of a shoe or boot

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("tongue" is a kind of...):

flap (any broad thin and limber covering attached at one edge; hangs loose or projects freely)

Holonyms ("tongue" is a part of...):

boot (footwear that covers the whole foot and lower leg)

shoe (footwear shaped to fit the foot (below the ankle) with a flexible upper of leather or plastic and a sole and heel of heavier material)

Sense 8

tongue [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Metal striker that hangs inside a bell and makes a sound by hitting the side

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

clapper; tongue

Hypernyms ("tongue" is a kind of...):

striker (the part of a mechanical device that strikes something)

Holonyms ("tongue" is a part of...):

bell (a hollow device made of metal that makes a ringing sound when struck)

• TONGUE (verb)

Sense 1

tongue [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Articulate by tonguing, as when playing wind instruments

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "tongue" is one way to...):

play; spiel (replay (as a melody))

Domain category:

music (musical activity (singing or whistling etc.))

music ((music) the sounds produced by singers or musical instruments (or reproductions of such sounds))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "tongue"):

double tongue; triple-tongue (play fast notes on a wind instrument)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

tongue [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Lick or explore with the tongue

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "tongue" is one way to...):

lap; lick (pass the tongue over)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody