'To hold the tongue' definitions:

Definition of 'To hold the tongue'

From: GCIDE
  • Tongue \Tongue\, n. [OE. tunge, tonge, AS. tunge; akin to OFries. tunge, D. tong, OS. tunga, G. zunge, OHG. zunga, Icel. & Sw. tunga, Dan tunge, Goth. tugg[=o], OL. dingua, L. lingua. [root]243 Cf.Language, Lingo. ] [1913 Webster]
  • 1. (Anat.) an organ situated in the floor of the mouth of most vertebrates and connected with the hyoid arch. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: The tongue is usually muscular, mobile, and free at one extremity, and in man other mammals is the principal organ of taste, aids in the prehension of food, in swallowing, and in modifying the voice as in speech. [1913 Webster]
  • To make his English sweet upon his tongue. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. The power of articulate utterance; speech. [1913 Webster]
  • Parrots imitating human tongue. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Discourse; fluency of speech or expression. [1913 Webster]
  • Much tongue and much judgment seldom go together. --L. Estrange. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. Honorable discourse; eulogy. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • She was born noble; let that title find her a private grave, but neither tongue nor honor. --Beau. & Fl. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. A language; the whole sum of words used by a particular nation; as, the English tongue. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
  • Whose tongue thou shalt not understand. --Deut. xxviii. 49. [1913 Webster]
  • To speak all tongues. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. Speech; words or declarations only; -- opposed to thoughts or actions. [1913 Webster]
  • My little children, let us love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. --1 John iii. 18. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. A people having a distinct language. [1913 Webster]
  • A will gather all nations and tongues. --Isa. lxvi. 18. [1913 Webster]
  • 8. (Zool.) (a) The lingual ribbon, or odontophore, of a mollusk. (b) The proboscis of a moth or a butterfly. (c) The lingua of an insect. [1913 Webster]
  • 9. (Zool.) Any small sole. [1913 Webster]
  • 10. That which is considered as resembing an animal's tongue, in position or form. Specifically: [1913 Webster] (a) A projection, or slender appendage or fixture; as, the tongue of a buckle, or of a balance. [1913 Webster] [1913 Webster] (b) A projection on the side, as of a board, which fits into a groove. [1913 Webster] (c) A point, or long, narrow strip of land, projecting from the mainland into a sea or a lake. [1913 Webster] (d) The pole of a vehicle; especially, the pole of an ox cart, to the end of which the oxen are yoked. [1913 Webster] (e) The clapper of a bell. [1913 Webster] (f) (Naut.) A short piece of rope spliced into the upper part of standing backstays, etc.; also. the upper main piece of a mast composed of several pieces. [1913 Webster] (g) (Mus.) Same as Reed, n., 5. [1913 Webster]
  • To hold the tongue, to be silent.
  • Tongue bone (Anat.), the hyoid bone.
  • Tongue grafting. See under Grafting. [1913 Webster]
  • Syn: Language; speech; expression. See Language. [1913 Webster]