I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
click your tongue (= make a short sound with your tongue to show disapproval )
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She clicked her tongue in annoyance.
mother tongue
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children for whom English is not their mother tongue
sb has a sharp tongue (= they speak in a very disapproving way which often upsets people )
stick...tongue out
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Don’t stick your tongue out . It’s rude!
tongue and groove
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tongue and groove floorboards
tongue depressor
tongue twister
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
long
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The chameleon will then dart out its long , sticky-tipped tongue , impale the insect and swallow it.
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A long tongue came out of the lamb's mouth as it licked its lips.
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Her skin is blue-black, she has a long red tongue , and snakes twine about her body.
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The wolf walked round and round the bushes, with his angry yellow eyes and his long black tongue .
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Flickers use this amazingly long tongue to feed on ants.
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His/her long muscular tongue lashed and probed the air like a sense organ as if to supplement his/her tiny shrunken eyes.
native
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An assistant began waving his arms and talking to the dealer noisily in his native tongue .
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At first it seems the girls are singing in their native tongue .
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The words, in his native tongue , were few and easy to learn.
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But for most of us our native tongue is alive and constantly shifting.
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It was weird, because it sure sounded like my native tongue .
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It is perfectly possible to communicate with little or no such similarity or else children would never learn their native tongue .
pink
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A vast pink tongue was hanging out of the creature's mouth between a pair of the longest, sharpest teeth imaginable.
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As he got closer I could hear his breathing as well, and I saw his pink tongue sweep across his lips.
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As they get older, the puppies can expect to see their pink tongues turn a distinctive bluey black colour.
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A pink tongue darted uncertainly over his lips and he swallowed hard.
sharp
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Only that you have a sharp tongue and an undisciplined sister, neither of which attributes I find endearing.
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Oh, she has the sharpest tongue !
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She was still slightly in awe of Violette, her worldliness, her sharp tongue .
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How I try to punish my parents with my sharp tongue .
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They opened their mouths to show her sharp tongues and teeth, ready to bite, gobble her up.
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There was a sharp little tongue under all that glamour.
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If Toyah cuts that easily she'd better watch herself on Linda's sharp tongue .
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Nobody but nobody commented on Maggie's shapely form - not unless they wanted acid dripping on them from that sharp tongue .
silver
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Ruth thought it more likely that his silver tongue had got around her.
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A man with a silver tongue like you should be out making a million dollars for himself, like my son.
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But unlike Douglass he had no oratorical gift, no passionate language, no silver tongue .
■ VERB
bite
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Polly battled on, practically biting her tongue in half.
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He could have bitten his tongue off the moment he said them, but it was already too late.
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Tell them to bite their tongues .
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Burun clenched his fists and bit his tongue to stop himself from shouting out.
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Ivan Yerineev was thrown to the ground and bit off his tongue .
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But they want a pink one, so Ralph takes out a pink one, bites his tongue .
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Always ready to knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, bite my tongue , cross my fingers.
click
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The clock clicks its tongue ... trial and error.
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Kha Yang clicked his tongue then.
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He clicked his tongue , the cob plodded resolutely forward and so did I. And it was easy!
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Young women came and joined in, everyone popping fingers on cheeks and clicking tongues .
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I sigh and click my tongue at these, of course.
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There was a human quality, too, to the noise, as if several women were clicking their tongues at great speed.
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Church speculated with a long-range squirt, clicking his tongue in self-reproach as he did.
cut
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They cut out their tongues and on the seventeenth day they all died.
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He seized her and cut out her tongue .
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After a day of torture, when they wanted to get some sleep, they would cut the prisoners' tongues out.
fork
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Her head appears, piercing eyes and forked tongue .
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Lifting up its small triangular head, the viper licked the air as if to write some-thing with its forked tongue .
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All the buildings shook, and at the same time a forked tongue of flame burst upward through the cloud.
hold
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Out of sheer curiosity I held my tongue , and waited.
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Those who hold that tongue speaking is the defining characteristic of pentecostalism insist on the Topeka advent.
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You have to avoid being Nellie-know-all and hold your tongue to allow a younger generation to enjoy the fun of discovery.
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This hypothesis holds that giant tongues of material were torn from the preexisting Sun by the gravitational attraction ofa passing star.
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Some shoes now boast a split tongue or an elasticated band which holds the tongue in place.
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Chastised, Elder Brother held his tongue , turning to look at Jinju as if to seek her support.
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Learn to hold your tongue , Mistress Philippa, else grief will come of it.
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Jim was struggling to hold his tongue when Carole knocked on his door and walked in.
loosen
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A few coppers would be enough to loosen her tongue .
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Zeal for a cause dissolved his timidity and loosened his tongue .
roll
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This committee compromise is unlikely to roll off anyone's tongue .
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Answers rolled off her tongue with well. oiled ease.
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Most have spent all their sentient life as paid-up devotees, and the glib phrases soon roll off the tongue .
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She took a swig and rolled it around her tongue like mouthwash.
run
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There in the dawn he grasped the envelope and ran his tongue across its darkly luminous cuff.
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He ran his tongue down her neck.
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Blanche nodded slowly and ran her tongue over her lips.
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Dunne rolled another cigarette, running his tongue slowly along the glued edge of the brown paper.
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The room revolved round her and she ran her tongue over suddenly dry lips.
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That slate face cracked pink, ran a tongue the color of strawberry ice cream over the lips.
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With excruciating slowness and delicacy he sucked it before running his tongue in the space between the last two toes.
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I ran my tongue over its rough surface and felt its salty effervescence.
speak
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And, for the first time in eighteen years, she spoke in tongues .
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They speak with other tongues , which is embarrassing and distasteful to many non-members of the Pentecostal scene.
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Nor did he invent that particularly intense expression of yearning called speaking in tongues .
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He seems transformed, as though he is speaking in tongues .
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The first time I ever heard anyone speak in tongues I found it strange, fascinating, and a little frightening.
stick
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Stuart sighed and Linda Paterson stuck out her tongue at him.
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Mitchell turned around lust in time to see her stick her tongue out at him.
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With her eyes still crossed, she stuck her tongue out and tried to curl it upwards.
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He told him to stick out his tongue and held his hand.
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She stuck out her tongue . ` Anyway, emergency medicine is great stuff.
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If children on the programme stick their tongues out, we don't condemn it.
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Like a child sticking out its tongue , they seemed to be saying, I know something you don't know.
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As I watched it soar over the crossbar,.Jamir stuck his tongue out in ridicule and blew a raspberry.
trip
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Names trip off his tongue with an ease bred through familiarity.
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A name which trips off the tongue .
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For a nasty moment I thought she'd tripped over her tongue and hurt herself.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
bite your tongue
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I'm just biting my tongue for now. If she wants to ask my advice, she can.
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I had to bite my tongue to stop myself telling Neil exactly what I thought of his stupid plan.
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She's so temperamental that even if you disagree with her it's better to bite your tongue and say nothing.
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When he said he was the best on the team, I just bit my tongue.
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Always ready to knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, bite my tongue, cross my fingers.
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But they want a pink one, so Ralph takes out a pink one, bites his tongue.
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He's not and would be wise to bite his tongue.
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It's all very well telling some one to bite their tongue and not fight back.
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Polly battled on, practically biting her tongue in half.
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Tell them to bite their tongues.
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Whatever the reason, Dauntless bit his tongue and resolved to put up with Cleo Sinister.
hold your tongue
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Chastised, Elder Brother held his tongue, turning to look at Jinju as if to seek her support.
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If he was a count he would be doubly arrogant and she would not be able to hold her tongue.
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Jim was struggling to hold his tongue when Carole knocked on his door and walked in.
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Learn to hold your tongue, Mistress Philippa, else grief will come of it.
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Out of sheer curiosity I held my tongue, and waited.
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She tried to talk him into letting her go, but he ordered her sharply to hold her tongue.
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Stella was forced to hold her tongue when Dotty or Babs Osborne spoke slightingly of Meredith.
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You have to avoid being Nellie-know-all and hold your tongue to allow a younger generation to enjoy the fun of discovery.
loosen sb's tongue
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The wine loosened his tongue.
native language/tongue
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English is not his native language.
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And as they learn their native language, they also use language to learn other things.
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But dialect features are not errors in this sense at all, but are characteristics of a pupil's native language.
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But for most of us our native tongue is alive and constantly shifting.
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It is perfectly possible to communicate with little or no such similarity or else children would never learn their native tongue.
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Some of the early researchers took a pessimistic view of what we would lose with the disappearance of native languages.
on the tip of your tongue
put your tongue out
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Donaldson fought the urge to put his tongue out.
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I put my tongue out at them as far as it would go.
slip of the tongue/pen
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He had made an unfortunate slip of the tongue himself.
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In all the excitement the Registrar, Mrs Molly Croll, suffered a slip of the pen.
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Much of the humour derives from slips of the tongue, an occupational hazard.
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One slip of the tongue would have betrayed all I was working for.
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They both use the same root consonants, which are rearranged as in a dream or a slip of the tongue.
trip off the tongue
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His name, "Roberto Carlos," just trips off the tongue.
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A name which trips off the tongue.
your tongue runs away with you
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Russian is not a tongue I speak.
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The computer, for disabled people, is operated using your tongue .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Always soft and fuzzed with pocket lint, they would sit on his tongue like dry bitter cotton.
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As soon as he saw the tongues, he knew.
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Her tongue turned black and choked her.
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She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue and his sudden tension told her she was right.
II. verb
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
native language/tongue
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English is not his native language.
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And as they learn their native language, they also use language to learn other things.
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But dialect features are not errors in this sense at all, but are characteristics of a pupil's native language.
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But for most of us our native tongue is alive and constantly shifting.
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It is perfectly possible to communicate with little or no such similarity or else children would never learn their native tongue.
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Some of the early researchers took a pessimistic view of what we would lose with the disappearance of native languages.
on the tip of your tongue
slip of the tongue/pen
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He had made an unfortunate slip of the tongue himself.
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In all the excitement the Registrar, Mrs Molly Croll, suffered a slip of the pen.
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Much of the humour derives from slips of the tongue, an occupational hazard.
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One slip of the tongue would have betrayed all I was working for.
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They both use the same root consonants, which are rearranged as in a dream or a slip of the tongue.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Her hair was rather wild, her tongue eloquent.