a. Obs. rare. [Fr., = killing, pres. pple. of tuer to slay, kill.] Of language or words: Cutting, biting, keen, trenchant.
1672. Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.), Rehearsal, IV. i. (Arb.), 99. Ay, I gad, but is not that tuant now, ha? is it not tuant?
1672. Marvell, Reh. Transp., I. 17. To say Mr. Bayes is more civil than to say Villain and Caitiff, though these indeed are more tuant.
1673. [R. Leigh], Transp. Reh., 13. Mr. Bayes is more Civil then to say, Villain and Caitiff, and yet these are not so tuant as Malapert Chaplain, Buffoon-General (and because it is an accomplishment to rail in more Languages then one) Opprobrium Academiae and Pestis Ecclesiae.
1673. Hickeringill, Greg. F. Greyb., 142. This harangue tuant and clean.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), s.v., A Tuant Jest, i.e. a tart, biting Jest.
