Tongue (Verb)
Meaning 1
Lick or explore with the tongue.
Classification
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging.
Examples
- The cat began to tongue the ice cream cone, curious about the cold treat.
- She tongue the spoon, tasting the sweetness of the dessert.
- The toddler tongue the popsicle, making a mess of the sticky juice.
- The dog will often tongue the bowl after eating, searching for scraps.
- He tongue the edge of the popsicle, savoring the flavor of the cold treat.
Hypernyms
Related Words
Meaning 2
Articulate by tonguing, as when playing wind instruments.
Classification
Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing.
Examples
- To produce a crisp note, one must tongue the clarinet reed sharply.
- She learned how to tongue the syllables of the song as part of a vocal exercise.
- In their rendition of the symphony, the trumpet players had to tongue the staccato notes rapidly.
- To bring clarity to the piece, the flute player emphasized the importance of tonguing each word distinctly.
- Proper tonguing techniques made the oboist sound more expressive.