1.  an organ situated in the floor of the mouth of most vertebrates and connected with the hyoid arch. [1913 Webster]
" 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." [1913 Webster]
"To make his English sweet upon his tongue." [1913 Webster]

2.  The power of articulate utterance; speech. [1913 Webster]
"Parrots imitating human tongue." [1913 Webster]

3.  Discourse; fluency of speech or expression. [1913 Webster]
"Much tongue and much judgment seldom go together." [1913 Webster]

4.  Honorable discourse; eulogy. [1913 Webster]
"She was born noble; let that title find her a private grave, but neither tongue nor honor." [1913 Webster]

5.  A language; the whole sum of words used by a particular nation; as, the English tongue. Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
"Whose tongue thou shalt not understand." [1913 Webster]
"To speak all tongues." [1913 Webster]

6.  Speech; words or declarations only; -- opposed to thoughts or actions. [1913 Webster]
"My little children, let us love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth." [1913 Webster]

7.  A people having a distinct language. [1913 Webster]
"A will gather all nations and tongues." [1913 Webster]

8.  The lingual ribbon, or odontophore, of a mollusk. [1913 Webster]

9.  Any small sole. [1913 Webster]

10.  That which is considered as resembing an animal's tongue, in position or form. [1913 Webster]

1.  To speak; to utter. Shak. [1913 Webster]

2.  To chide; to scold. [1913 Webster]
"How might she tongue me." [1913 Webster]

3.  To modulate or modify with the tongue, as notes, in playing the flute and some other wind instruments. [1913 Webster]

4.  To join means of a tongue and grove; as, to tongue boards together. [1913 Webster]

1.  To talk; to prate. Dryden. [1913 Webster]

2.  To use the tongue in forming the notes, as in playing the flute and some other wind instruments. [1913 Webster]

tongue, n. & v.
--n.
1 the fleshy muscular organ in the mouth used in tasting, licking, and swallowing, and (in man) for speech.
2 the tongue of an ox etc. as food.
3 the faculty of or a tendency in speech (a sharp tongue).
4 a particular language (the German tongue).
5 a thing like a tongue in shape or position, esp.: a a long low promontory. b a strip of leather etc., attached at one end only, under the laces in a shoe. c the clapper of a bell. d the pin of a buckle. e the projecting strip on a wooden etc. board fitting into the groove of another. f a vibrating slip in the reed of some musical instruments. g a jet of flame.
--v. (tongues, tongued, tonguing)
1 tr. produce staccato etc. effects with (a flute etc.) by means of tonguing.
2 intr. use the tongue in this way.

Idiom:
find (or lose) one's tongue be able (or unable) to express oneself after a shock etc. the gift of tongues the power of speaking in unknown languages, regarded as one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). keep a civil tongue in one's head avoid rudeness. tongue-and-groove applied to boards in which a tongue along one edge fits into a groove along the edge of the next, each board having a tongue on one edge and a groove on the other. tongue-in-cheek adj. ironic; slyly humorous.
--adv. insincerely or ironically. tongue-lashing a severe scolding or reprimand. tongue-tie a speech impediment due to a malformation of the tongue. tongue-tied
1 too shy or embarrassed to speak.
2 having a tongue-tie. tongue-twister a sequence of words difficult to pronounce quickly and correctly. with one's tongue hanging out eagerly or expectantly. with one's tongue in one's cheek insincerely or ironically.

Derivative:
tongued adj. (also in comb.). tongueless adj.

Etymology:
OE tunge f. Gmc, rel. to L lingua

N  language, phraseology, speech, tongue, lingo, vernacular, mother tongue, vulgar tongue, native tongue, household words, King's English, Queen's English, dialect, confusion of tongues, Babel, pasigraphie, pantomime, onomatopoeia, betacism, mimmation, myatism, nunnation, pasigraphy, lexicology, philology, glossology, glottology, linguistics, chrestomathy, paleology, paleography, comparative grammar, literature, letters, polite literature, belles lettres, muses, humanities, literae humaniores, republic of letters, dead languages, classics, genius of language, scholarship, lingual, linguistic, dialectic, vernacular, current, bilingual, diglot, hexaglot, polyglot, literary, syllables govern the world.

N  loquacity, loquaciousness, talkativeness, garrulity, multiloquence, much speaking, jaw, gabble, jabber, chatter, prate, prattle, cackle, clack, twaddle, twattle, rattle, caquet, caquetterie, blabber, bavardage, bibble-babble, gibble-gabble, small talk, fluency, flippancy, volubility, flowing, tongue, flow of words, flux de bouche, flux de mots, copia verborum, cacoethes loquendi, furor loquendi, verbosity, gift of the gab, talker, chatterer, chatterbox, babbler, rattle, ranter, sermonizer, proser, driveler, blatherskite, gossip, magpie, jay, parrot, poll, Babel, moulin a paroles, loquacious, talkative, garrulous, linguacious, multiloquous, largiloquent, chattering, chatty, declamatory, open-mouthed, fluent, voluble, glib, flippant, long tongued, long winded, trippingly on the tongue, glibly, off the reel, the tongue running fast, the tongue running loose, the tongue running on wheels, all talk and no cider, foul whisperings are abroad, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue!.

N  convexity, prominence, projection, swelling, gibbosity, bilge, bulge, protuberance, protrusion, camber, cahot, thank-ye-ma'am, swell, intumescence, tumour, tumor, tubercle, tuberosity, excrescence, hump, hunch, bunch, boss, embossment, hub, hubble, tooth, knob, elbow, process, apophysis, condyle, bulb, node, nodule, nodosity, tongue, dorsum, bump, clump, sugar loaf, bow, mamelon, molar, belly, corporation, pot belly, gut, withers, back, shoulder, lip, flange, pimple, zit, wen, wheel, papula, pustule, pock, proud flesh, growth, sarcoma, caruncle, corn, wart, pappiloma, furuncle, polypus, fungus, fungosity, exostosis, bleb, blister, blain, boil, airbubble, blob, papule, verruca, papilla, nipple, teat, tit, titty, boob, knocker, pap, breast, dug, mammilla, proboscis, nose, neb, beak, snout, nozzle, schnoz, peg, button, stud, ridge, rib, jutty, trunnion, snag, cupola, dome, arch, balcony, eaves, pilaster, relief, relievo, cameo, bassorilievo, mezzorilevo, altorivievo, low relief, bas relief, high relief, hill, cape, promontory, mull, forehead, foreland, point of land, mole, jetty, hummock, ledge, spur, naze, ness, convex, prominent, protuberant, projecting, bossed, embossed, bossy, nodular, bunchy, clavate, clavated, claviform, hummocky, moutonne, mammiliform, papulous, papilose, hemispheric, bulbous, bowed, arched, bold, bellied, tuberous, tuberculous, tumous, cornute, odontoid, lentiform, lenticular, gibbous, club shaped, hubby, hubbly, knobby, papillose, saddle-shaped, selliform, subclavate, torose, ventricose, verrucose, salient, in relief, raised, repousse, bloated, (expanded).

N  taste, good taste, refined taste, cultivated taste, delicacy, refinement, fine feeling, gust, gusto, tact, finesse, nicety, to prepon, polish, elegance, grace, judgment, discernment, dilettantism, dilettanteism, virtu, fine art, culture, cultivation, aesthetics, man of taste, connoisseur, judge, critic, conoscente, virtuoso, amateur, dilettante, Aristarchus, Corinthian, arbiter elegantiarum, stagirite, euphemist, caviare to the general, in good taste, cute, tasteful, tasty, unaffected, pure, chaste, classical, attic, cultivated, refined, dainty, esthetic, aesthetic, artistic, elegant, euphemistic, to one's taste, to one's mind, after one's fancy, comme il faut, tire a quatre epingles, elegantly, nihil tetigit quod non ornavit, chacun a son gout, oculi pictura tenentur aures cantibus, taste, flavor, gust, gusto, savor, gout, relish, sapor, sapidity, twang, smack, smatch, aftertaste, tang, tasting, degustation, gustation, palate, tongue, tooth, stomach, sapid, saporific, gustable, gustatory, gustful, strong, gamy, palatable.

adder's tongue, adder's tongue fern, beef tongue, black tongue, bull tongue, calf's tongue, devil's tongue, double tongue, furry tongue, give tongue to, hairy tongue, mother tongue, mother-in-law's tongue, painted tongue, sharp tongue, slip of the tongue, tongue and groove joint, tongue depressor, tongue fern, tongue in cheek, tongue lash, tongue lashing, tongue tie, tongue tied, tongue twister, tongue worm, yellow adder's tongue