[Mainly echoic, like TANG sb.2 (cf. TING v., TONG v.); but in some instances affected by TANG sb.1]
1. trans. To strike (a bell or the like) so as to cause it to emit a sharp loud ringing note.
1556. Olde, Antichrist, 10. Is it ynough for him to tang the watchebell?
1841. C. H. Hartshorne, Salop. Antiq., Gloss. 590. Tang, to make a harsh discordant noise by striking against a piece of metal: chiefly used in reference to the swarming of bees. Ex. ‘Tang the fryingpan.’
1842. Akerman, Wilts. Gloss., s.v., ‘To tang the bell’ is to pull it.
2. To utter with a tang or ringing tone.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., II. v. 163. Let thy tongue tang arguments of state; put thy selfe into the tricke of singularitie.
1863. Cowden Clarke, Shaks. Char., ii. 54. Touchstone … can tang out a sarcasm with any professor of cynicism.
b. To impart a tang or twang to. nonce-use.
a. 1849. H. Coleridge, Young & Contemp., Poems (1851), II. 328. So long shall Gray, and all he said and sung, Tang the shrill accents of the school-girl’s tongue.
3. intr. To emit a sharp and loud ringing or clanging sound; to ring, clang.
[1601. Shaks., Twel. N., III. iv. 78. Let thy tongue langer [1767 Capell tang] with arguments of state.]
1686. Bunyan, Country Rhymes, xxix. 36.
| When Ringers handle them with Art and Skill, | |
| They then the ears of the Observers fill, | |
| With such brave Notes, they ting and tang so well | |
| As to out strip all with their ding, dong, Bell. |
1842. Akerman, Wilts. Gloss., Tang, to make a noise with a key and shovel at the time of swarming of a hive.
a. 1845. Hood, Tale of Trumpet, xxxvi. The smallest urchin whose tongue could tang, Shock’d the Dame with a volley of slang.
4. trans. dial. To affect (swarming bees) with a clanging noise, so as to make them settle: = TING v.
1881. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., s.v., Mak’ ’aste an’ fatch the warmin’-pon an’ the kay o’ the ’ouse to tang the bees.
5. intr. To move on with a tang.
1906. Daily Chron., 7 June, 4/7. The car ‘tanged’ on.
