Adjective: tonguey
Comparison Forms
Synthetic
| Comparative | tonguier |
| Superlative | tonguiest |
Perifrastic
| Comparative | more tonguey |
| Superlative | most tonguey |
Sample Sentences
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1608, Philip Woodward, Bels Trial Examined, Doai, Preface,
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Seeing then he is now so mute, that before was so tonguy […]
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“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!” [1844, Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, Chapter , p. 267:]
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“[…] 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.” [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:]
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1885, J. H. Battle, Kentucky: A History of the State, Louisville, KY: F.A. Battey, “Biographical Sketches,” p. 839,
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[…] personal abuse and tonguy sarcasm are not elements of success in law practice.
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“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. […]” [1896, F. Hopkinson Smith, Tom Grogan, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Chapter , p. 186:]
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those points especially warming to tonguey gossip—the neighboring tavern and country-store [1916, Kate Stephens, “Our Country Newspaper: The Genesis of Its Spirit”, in Workfellows in Social Progression, New York: Sturgis & Walton, page 45:]
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[…] even his tonguey confidence and ingenuousness could glean but little satisfaction from his interviews with the rheumatic and unbelieving old woman. [1887, Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman, “The Bar Light-House”, in A Humble Romance, and Other Stories, New York: Harper & Brothers, page 182:]
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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. [1918, F. Roney Weir, chapter 13, in Merry Andrew, Boston: Small, Maynard, page 187:]
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They take each other’s hands and kiss goodbye, a longish tonguey kiss […] [1988, Hanif Kureishi, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, London: Faber and Faber, page 8:]
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1882, Albert Kellogg, Forest Trees of California, Sacramento: J.D. Young, “The Noble Silver Fir,” p. 34,
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These tonguey bracts or scaly appendages […] never become shorter than the proper cone scales, or so as to be hid from outside view.
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[…] the brain-aura […] crowns the head after the manner of the tonguey flames of a torch. [1903, Fred Max, chapter 1, in Soul-Return, Boston: E.H. Bacon, page 21:]
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Fleur leans back against the kitchen table, letting her face be licked by the tonguey vapour of her coffee-cup. [2003, Toby Litt, Finding Myself, Penguin, published 2004, page 158:]
Adjectives inflected like tonguey
old-timey,
nippley,
drudgey,
tomatoey,
cringey,
dudey,
dykey,
fluey,
gamey,
wifey,
ropey,
rapey,
echoey,
pricey,
tonguey,
spikey,
Etymology
From Middle English tungy, tungi, equivalent to tongue + -y. Compare Old English tynġe (“fluent, eloquent, skillful”).