tonguen.[OE. tunge, tonge, AS. tunge; akin to OFries. tunge, D. tong, OS. tunga, G. zunge, OHG. zunga, Icel. & Sw. tunga, Dan tunge, Goth. tugg, OL. dingua, L. lingua. 243 Cf.Language, Lingo. ]()1. (Anat.) an organ situated in the floor of the mouth of most vertebrates and connected with the hyoid arch.()()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.()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. (Zol.) The lingual ribbon, or odontophore, of a mollusk.()9. (Zol.) Any small sole.()10. That which is considered as resembing an animal's tongue, in position or form.() A projection, or slender appendage or fixture; as, the tongue of a buckle, or of a balance.()() A projection on the side, as of a board, which fits into a groove.() A point, or long, narrow strip of land, projecting from the mainland into a sea or a lake.() The pole of a vehicle; especially, the pole of an ox cart, to the end of which the oxen are yoked.() The clapper of a bell.() (Naut.) 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.() (Mus.) Same as Reed, n., 5.()To hold the tongue, to be silent. -- Tongue bone (Anat.), the hyoid bone. -- Tongue grafting. See under Grafting.()()v. t.1. To speak; to utter.(Shak.)2. To chide; to scold.()How might she tongue me. (Shak.)3. (Mus.) To modulate or modify with the tongue, as notes, in playing the flute and some other wind instruments.()4. To join means of a tongue and grove; as, to tongue boards together.()v. i.1. To talk; to prate.(Dryden.)2. (Mus.) To use the tongue in forming the notes, as in playing the flute and some other wind instruments.()