tonguely en · ADJ · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- (General-American) audio
- (Southern-England) audio
- /-ɡli/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˈtʌŋli/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
From tongue + -ly (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, with the sense “appearing like or resembling [what is denoted by the noun]”).
Meanings
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(informal, not-comparable, rare) Of or pertaining to the tongue; lingual.
[A] meadow / in his own right, all inwardly afire, ten / thousand tonguely shadings painting him / angelic warden of the face of earth.
1973, The Midwest Quarterly: A Journal of Contemporary Thought, volume XV, Pittsburgh, Kan.: Kansas State College of Pittsburg, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 374:"Lo-lee-ta." Our palatal journey, our physical introduction, our tonguely tour of her body in all its divisibility, takes us to her complete sundering: the phonemes have become, as indeed they ought to be as the true bearers of signification, whole in themselves.
2005, Matthew Pateman, “Lolita—A Region in Flames”, in Nicole Bracker, Stefan Herbrechter, editors, Metaphors of Economy (Critical Studies; 25), Amsterdam; New York, N.Y.: Editions Rodopi, →ISBN, page 119:Language must be further defined through language, more tonguely flexing, more mobilized spittle, more swirls of ink.
2016, Esther Leslie, “Meltwater”, in Liquid Crystals: The Science and Art of a Fluid Form, London: Reaktion Books, →ISBN, page 189:However simple this basic recipe for tonguely delight seems, many men mess it up in gender-specific ways.
1998, H. Lloyd Goodall, Food Talk: A Man’s Guide to Cooking and Conversation with Women, Greensboro, N.C.: Snowgoose Cove Pub., →ISBN, page 91:A quick dash back to the bed. A tonguely examination of her dental work. A frantic clutching between her legs.
2003, Elizabeth George, “I, Richard”, in I, Richard, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 196:
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(informal, not-comparable, rare) Pertaining or relating to languages; lingual, linguistic.
His English was and is excellent, just like his French and Spanish. "Few men share this man's tonguely talent for languages!" auctioned Qaddafi [i.e., Muammar Gaddafi] in a speech of praise to your father when he was delegated Libya's official photo prize recently.
2011, Jonas Hassen Khemiri, translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles, Montecore: The Silence of the Tiger (A Borzoi Book), 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN, part 2, footnote 9, page 79:Only the silence of the spirit in which Thou is addressed can liberate Thou, as [Martin] Buber says, out of the "pre-tonguely," pre-speech-formed It-world.
[1974, Werner Manheim, “The Dialogical Principle”, in Martin Buber (Twayne’s World Authors Series, Germany; TWAS 269), New York, N.Y.: Twayne Publishers, →ISBN, page 31:Women are proverbial for tonguely gifts, and orators do not require very great depth. Like the belle with her chit-chat, it is the tone and manner which do execution.
1847 May, Fanny Forester [pseudonym; Emily Chubbuck], “A Dream”, in George R[ex] Graham, editor, Graham’s American Monthly Magazine of Literature and Art, volume XXX, number 5, Philadelphia, Pa.: George R. Graham & Co. […], →OCLC, page 316, column 1: