Tongue-shell
(Tongue"-shell`) n. Any species of Lingula.
Tonguester
(Tongue"ster) n. One who uses his tongue; a talker; a story-teller; a gossip. [Poetic.]
Step by step we rose to greatness; through the tonguesters we may fall.
Tennyson. Tongue-tie
(Tongue"-tie`) n. (Med.) Impeded motion of the tongue because of the shortness of the
frænum, or of the adhesion of its margins to the gums. Dunglison.
Tongue-tie
(Tongue"-tie`), v. t. To deprive of speech or the power of speech, or of distinct articulation.
Tongue-tied
(Tongue"-tied`) a.
1. Destitute of the power of distinct articulation; having an impediment in the speech, esp. when caused
by a short frænum.
2. Unable to speak freely, from whatever cause.
Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity.
Shak. Tongueworm
(Tongue"worm`) n. (Zoöl.) Any species of Linguatulina.
Tonguy
(Tongu"y) a. Ready or voluble in speaking; as, a tonguy speaker. [Written also tonguey.] [Colloq.]
Tonic
(Ton"ic) a. [Cf. F. tonigue, Gr. . See Tone.]
1. Of or relating to tones or sounds; specifically (Phon.), applied to, or distingshing, a speech sound
made with tone unmixed and undimmed by obstruction, such sounds, namely, the vowels and diphthongs,
being so called by Dr. James Rush (1833) " from their forming the purest and most plastic material of
intonation."
2. Of or pertaining to tension; increasing tension; hence, increasing strength; as, tonic power.
3. (Med.) Increasing strength, or the tone of the animal system; obviating the effects of debility, and
restoring healthy functions.
Tonic spasm. (Med.) See the Note under Spasm.
Tonic
(Ton"ic), n. [Cf. F. tonique, NL. tonicum.]
1. (Phon.) A tonic element or letter; a vowel or a diphthong.
2. (Mus.) The key tone, or first tone of any scale.
3. (Med.) A medicine that increases the strength, and gives vigor of action to the system.
Tonic sol-fa (Mus.), the name of the most popular among letter systems of notation based on key
relationship, and hence called "tonic." Instead of the five lines, clefs, signature, etc., of the usual notation,
it employs letters and the syllables do, re, mi, etc., variously modified, with other simple signs of duration,
of upper or lower octave, etc. See Sol- fa.
Tonical
(Ton"ic*al) a. Tonic. [R.] Sir T. Browne.
Tonicity
(To*nic"i*ty) n. (Physiol.) The state of healthy tension or partial contraction of muscle fibers
while at rest; tone; tonus.
