tonguey
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English tungy, tungi, equivalent to tongue + y. Compare Old English tynge (“fluent, eloquent, skillful”).
Adjective
tonguey (comparative tonguier or more tonguey, superlative tonguiest or most tonguey)
- (of a person) Tending to talk a lot; fluent or voluble in speech (generally with an unfavourable connotation).
- Synonyms: garrulous, loquacious, talkative
- 1608, Philip Woodward, Bels Trial Examined, Doai, Preface,
- Seeing then he is now so mute, that before was so tonguy […]
- 1844, Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, Chapter , p. 267:
- “You air a tongue-y person, Gen’ral. For you talk too much, and that’s a fact,” said Scadder. “You speak a-larmingly well in public, but you didn’t ought to go ahead so fast in private. Now!”
- 1921, Leila Amos Pendleton, “The Foolish and the Wise: Sallie Runner Is Introduced to Socrates”, in Marcy Jane Knopf-Newman, editor, The Sleeper Wakes: Harlem Renaissance Stories by Women, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, page 163:
- “ […] He had many friends who loved him truly and they tried to persuade him to escape, but by unanswerable arguments he proved to them how wrong they were.” ¶ “Humph!” grunted Sallie. “Tonguey to de last! An’ in de wrong way to de wrong ones.”
- (of speech) Using many words; containing grandiloquent expressions; marked by rhetorical elegance (generally with an unfavourable connotation).
- 1885, J. H. Battle, Kentucky: A History of the State, Louisville, KY: F.A. Battey, “Biographical Sketches,” p. 839,
- […] personal abuse and tonguy sarcasm are not elements of success in law practice.
- 1896, F. Hopkinson Smith, Tom Grogan, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Chapter , p. 186:
- “I have listened,” he said, “to the talk that Justice Rowan has given us. It’s very fine and tonguey, but it smothers up the facts. […] ”
- 1885, J. H. Battle, Kentucky: A History of the State, Louisville, KY: F.A. Battey, “Biographical Sketches,” p. 839,
- (of a quality) Manifested by fluent or voluble speech.
- 1887, Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman, “The Bar Light-House”, in A Humble Romance, and Other Stories, New York: Harper & Brothers, page 182:
- […] even his tonguey confidence and ingenuousness could glean but little satisfaction from his interviews with the rheumatic and unbelieving old woman.
- Involving the tongue.
- 1988, Hanif Kureishi, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, London: Faber and Faber, page 8:
- They take each other’s hands and kiss goodbye, a longish tonguey kiss […]
- Resembling a tongue.
- 1882, Albert Kellogg, Forest Trees of California, Sacramento: J.D. Young, “The Noble Silver Fir,” p. 34,
- These tonguey bracts or scaly appendages […] never become shorter than the proper cone scales, or so as to be hid from outside view.
- 2003, Toby Litt, Finding Myself, Penguin, published 2004, page 158:
- Fleur leans back against the kitchen table, letting her face be licked by the tonguey vapour of her coffee-cup.
- 1882, Albert Kellogg, Forest Trees of California, Sacramento: J.D. Young, “The Noble Silver Fir,” p. 34,
Noun
tonguey (plural tongueys)
- (Australia, UK) An act or an instance of kissing that involves the use of one's tongue.
- Synonym: French kiss
- 1992, Louis Nowra, Così, Sydney: Currency Press, published 1994, act 2, scene 5, page 86:
- Give me a kiss. No, open your mouth, I want a tonguey.
- 2004, Ben Elton, chapter 20, in Past Mortem, London: Bantam, page 200:
- He walked her to her house and received one last lingering Christmas tonguey under the mistletoe that hung above the door.
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