tongue

noun

• 1the fleshy muscular organ in the mouth of a mammal, used for tasting, licking, swallowing, and (in humans) articulating speech.
• the equivalent organ in other vertebrates, sometimes used (in snakes) as a scent organ or (in chameleons) for catching food.
• an analogous organ in insects, formed from some of the mouthparts and used in feeding.
• [mass noun] the tongue of an ox or lamb as food: a galantine of tongue

• 2 [in singular] used in reference to a person’s style or manner of speaking:he was a redoubtable debater with a caustic tongue
• [count noun] a particular language:the girls were singing in their native tongue

• 3a thing resembling or likened to a tongue, in particular:
• a long, low promontory of land.
• a jet of flame:a tongue of flame flashed from the gun
• a strip of leather or fabric under the laces in a shoe, attached only at the front end.
• the free-swinging metal piece inside a bell which is made to strike the bell to produce the sound.
• the pin of a buckle.
• a projecting strip on a wooden board fitting into a groove on another.
• the vibrating reed of a musical instrument or organ pipe.

verb (tongues, tonguing, tongued)

• 1 Music sound (a note) distinctly on a wind instrument by interrupting the air flow with the tongue: (as noun tonguing)Eugene has worked out the correct tonguing

• 2lick or caress with the tongue:the other horse tongued every part of the colt’s mane