tonguey en · ADJ
Etymology
From Middle English tungy, tungi, equivalent to tongue + -y. Compare Old English tynġe (“fluent, eloquent, skillful”).
Meanings
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(of a person) Tending to talk a lot; fluent or voluble in speech (generally with an unfavourable connotation).
1608, Philip Woodward, Bels Trial Examined, Doai, Preface, Seeing then he is now so mute, that before was so tonguy […]
“[…] 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.”
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:“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!”
1844, Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, Chapter , p. 267:
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(of speech) Using many words; containing grandiloquent expressions; marked by rhetorical elegance (generally with an unfavourable connotation).
those points especially warming to tonguey gossip—the neighboring tavern and country-store
1916, Kate Stephens, “Our Country Newspaper: The Genesis of Its Spirit”, in Workfellows in Social Progression, New York: Sturgis & Walton, page 45:“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. […]”
1896, F. Hopkinson Smith, Tom Grogan, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Chapter , p. 186:1885, 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.
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(of a quality) Manifested by fluent or voluble speech.
[…] even his tonguey confidence and ingenuousness could glean but little satisfaction from his interviews with the rheumatic and unbelieving old woman.
1887, Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman, “The Bar Light-House”, in A Humble Romance, and Other Stories, New York: Harper & Brothers, page 182:
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Involving the tongue.
Wully seated himself upon the corner of the kitchen table, from beneath which appeared a dog’s welcoming nose accompanied by a tonguey, tooth-trimmed grin.
1918, F. Roney Weir, chapter 13, in Merry Andrew, Boston: Small, Maynard, page 187:They take each other’s hands and kiss goodbye, a longish tonguey kiss […]
1988, Hanif Kureishi, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, London: Faber and Faber, page 8:
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Resembling a tongue.
Fleur leans back against the kitchen table, letting her face be licked by the tonguey vapour of her coffee-cup.
2003, Toby Litt, Finding Myself, Penguin, published 2004, page 158:1882, 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.
[…] the brain-aura […] crowns the head after the manner of the tonguey flames of a torch.
1903, Fred Max, chapter 1, in Soul-Return, Boston: E.H. Bacon, page 21:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| tonguiest | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| more tonguey | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| tonguy | alternative | lexicographic | |
| most tonguey | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| tonguier | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |
Relateds
Synonyms
loquacious · bombastic · flowery · garrulous · talkative · verbose