# tonguey
## English
### Alternative forms

* tonguy

### Etymology

From Middle English tungy, tungi, equivalent to tongue +‎ -y. Compare Old English tynġe (“fluent, eloquent, skillful”).

### Adjective

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

#### See also

* glossal
* lingual
* tonguely

### Noun

tonguey (plural tongueys)
* (Australia, UK) An act or an instance of kissing that involves the use of one's tongue.
    Synonym: French kiss
** 1992, Louis Nowra, Così‎, Sydney: Currency Press, published 1994, act 2, scene 5, page 86:Give me a kiss. No, open your mouth, I want a tonguey.
** 2004, Ben Elton, chapter 20, in Past Mortem‎, London: Bantam, page 200:He walked her to her house and received one last lingering Christmas tonguey under the mistletoe that hung above the door.