tongue

Universal Words noun, verb noun 1 [C] the soft part in the mouth that moves around, used for tasting, swallowing, speaking, etc: He clicked his tongue to attract their attention. * She ran her tongue over her lips. * It's very rude to stick your tongue out at people. 2 [U,C] the tongue of some animals, cooked and eaten: a slice of ox tongue 3 [C] (formal or literary) a language: None of the tribes speak the same tongue. * I tried speaking to her in her native tongue. seealsoMOTHERTONGUE 4 [sing.] a particular way of speaking: He has a sharp tongue. * (formal) I'll thank you to keep a civil tongue in your head (= speak politely). seealsoSILVERTONGUE 5 (-tongued) (in adjectives) speaking in the way mentioned: sharp-tongued 6 [C] a long narrow piece of leather under the LACES on a shoe 7 [C] ~ (of sth) (literary) something that is long and narrow and shaped like a tongue: a tongue of flame / land IDIOMS get your tongue around / round sth to pronounce a difficult word correctly: He was having trouble getting his tongue around my name. hold your tongue / peace (old-fashioned) to remain silent although you would like to give your opinion roll / slip / trip off the tongue to be easy to say or pronounce: It's not a name that exactly trips off the tongue, is it? set tongues wagging (informal) to cause people to start talking about sb's private affairs: His sudden resignation set tongues wagging. with your tongue in your cheek