double-tongued en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
From Middle English doubultongud, dowbyl townged, dubble tungyd, equivalent to double + tongued.
Meanings
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(idiomatic, not-comparable) Saying one thing to one person and something different to another; double talking; deceitful in speech.
Thou art but a double-tongu'd Chriſtian, I doubt: […]
1720, [Daniel Defoe], The Life, Adventures, and Pyracies, of the Famous Captain Singleton, London: […] J[ohn] Brotherton, […], J[ohn] Graves […], A[nne] Dodd, […], and T[homas] Warner, […], →OCLC, page 279:“Thou wry-necked, trash-mongering, swaggering, double-tongued, huff-snuff!”
1970, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 123:
Synonyms
Translations (2)
de zweigezüngt (deceitful in speech) · de doppelzüngig (deceitful in speech)