vbl. sb. [f. TONGUE v. + -ING1.] The action of the verb TONGUE in various senses (see the verb); spec. in playing the flute and other wind instruments: see quot. 1880.
1682. D’Urfey, Injured Princess, II. iv.
| If | |
| Tonguing, fingering and fighting, don’t please her, | |
| The Devil’s in her. |
1687. Wood, Life (O.H.S.), III. 247. There was tonguing of his landlady, his taking money to bring naked women into company, his being usher to a Presbyterian scholemaster, and several other particulars of his life rip’t up.
1763. Mills, Pract. Husb., IV. 217. The third method [of whip-grafting], which is an improvement of the last, is properly named tipping or tonguing.
1832. J. P. Kennedy, Swallow B., xli. The tonguing of this dog was followed by the quick yelping of four or five others.
1862. Times, 7 March, 6/1. The tonguing and grooving by which the Warrior’s plates are dovetailed together was not resorted to in this instance.
1880. W. H. Stone, in Grove, Dict. Mus., I. 459/2. s.v. Double tongueing, Single tongueing,… signifies the starting of the reed-vibrations by a sharp touch from the tip of the tongue…. Single tongueing is phonetically represented by a succession of the lingual letter T, as in the word ‘rat-tat-tat.’ Double tongueing aims at alternating the linguo-dental explosive T with another explosive consonant produced differently, such as the linguo-palatals D or K, thus relieving the muscles by altergate instead of repeated action.
1895. H. Callan, Fr. Clyde to Jordan, 136. You must give them a right good ‘tonguing.’
b. The furnishing of boards with tongues (TONGUE sb. 14 j); concr. the tongues of boards collectively.
1842. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., IV. 22/2. Although the deal tongueing has been destroyed by the worms, the green-heart planking remains untouched and perfectly sound.
