tongue

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

n. communication, speech, language, dialect; pole; flap, projection. See support, convexity.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [The movable muscle in the mouth]

Syn. organ of taste, organ of speech, lingua, lingula, blabber*, clacker*, lapper*; see also muscle , organ 2 .

Parts of the tongue used in speech are: tip, apex, front, center, back.

2. [Speech]

Syn. speech, utterance, discourse; see language 1 .

3. [Something resembling a tongue, sense 1]

Syn. shoe tongue, wagon pole, neap, bell clapper, peninsula, movable pin.

• find one's tongue,

Syn. recover one's ability to talk, speak up, begin talking; see talk 1 .

• hold one's tongue,

Syn. refrain from speaking, hold back, keep silent; see restrain 1 .

• on the tip of one's tongue,

Syn. forgotten, not quite remembered, not readily recalled; see forgotten .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

language, dialect, speech, talk, vernacular, idiom, lingo, parlance, native tongue, jargon, slang, argot, articulation. ''A wild beast; once let loose it is difficult to chain.''—Baltasar Gracian. ''The only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.''—Washington Irving.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun A system of terms used by a people sharing a history and culture: dialect, language, speech, vernacular. Linguistics: langue. See WORDS.