Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a harangue.

1845		Oxford Chron. 2 Aug. n.p.: It was a disreputable quarrel at a public house [...] the scene of the choice language and tongue banging between Miss Ann leaver and Mr and Mrs S. Rolfe.
1880		Leicester Chron. 27 Nov. 12/1: He was quite satisfied to have undergone the tongue-bashing he got [...] in the House of Commons.
1902		Truth (Brisbane) 19 Oct. 3/2: [T] ensued such a tongue-banging, such a flood of filth and profanity as few men could have equalled.
1916		Province (Vancouver), BC) 30 Aug. 6/3: This method would really be more sincere than a mere tongue-banging.

the licking and sucking of the partner’s body, incl. the genitals and sometimes the anus.

1941		G. Legman ‘Lang. of Homosexuality’ Appendix VII in Henry Sex Variants.
1964		Lavender Lex. n.p.: around the world:– Oral contact as a sex experience with a partner of the same or the opposite sex. Contact is made without any reservation to all parts of the body. This is usually an expression of the urban areas and is more used in houses of prostitution. (A tongue bath).
1971		F. Hilaire Thanatos 287: Heckle [...] crawled under the bed and gave him a tongue bath.
1985		‘Jennifer Blowdryer’ Modern English 77: tongue bath (n): Licking someone’s balls.
1990		R. Campbell Sweet La-La Land (1999) 9: Ready to offer care, comfort, and a tongue bath at the end of a difficult working day.

(US) kissing.

1970

E. Tidyman Shaft 84: Every time he went tongue-diving with a fox.

(N.Z. prison) a lesbian.

1999		D. Looser ‘Boob Jargon’ in NZEJ 13 36: tongue fu n. Lesbian.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 190/2: tongue fu n. a lesbian [...] 191/1: tongue lizard n. a lesbian.

see tongue v. (3)

(orig. US) oral sex, whether fellatio or cunnilingus.

c.1927		in P. Smith Letter from My Father (1978) 191: Lilian favored ‘tongue-lapping.’.
1966		Trimble 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
1998		K. Sampson Awaydays 78: Alternating deep draughts which take my entire length inside her with delicate tongue jobs on my bell.

(US gay) to perform fellatio or anilingus.

1983

R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].

see separate entries.

see tongue pad n.

(US) mutual oral-genital intercourse.

c.1948

‘Chambers & Hiss in “Betrayed”’ [comic strip] in B. Adelman Tijuana Bibles (1997) 125: Just when I thought we were getting a nice tongue party started.

see separate entry.

see plating n.

1. (US gay) anilingus.

1972

B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 172: act of rimming. [...] tongue sandwich.

2. a deep kiss.

1985		B. Humphries Traveller’s Tool 8: Chances are she’ll gladly cop a tongue sandwich.
1992		K. Lette Llama Parlour 226: Tash kicked me hard in the chin, before placating Hank with a tasty tongue-sandwich.

see tongue sushi under sushi n.

(N.Z. prison) LSD.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 191/1: tongue teaser n. LSD.

(Aus.) to harangue, to berate.

1901

Bulletin (Sydney) 23 Nov. 32/2: I felt sorry for the lizard till De Quinlan started ter tongue-wang me. Then I copped him by the neck an’ hurled him through the beetle department.

to kiss deeply, using the tongues; thus tongue-wrestling n.

1991		Gazette (Montreal, CA) 11 Aug. 23/2: There is even a list of more than 100 types of kisses, including the Tongue Wrestle.
1998		(con. 1986) G. Pelecanos Sweet Forever 40: Mary, a dark-haired Brit with whom he had tongue-wrestled at last year’s Christmas party.
2001		‘Randy Everhard’ Tattoo of a Naked Lady 10: Despite all the tongue wrasslin’, her hands were nowhere near where I wanted them to be.
2005		Jade LB Keisha the Sket (2021) 49: We woz stndn up der toung wrestlin in da block.

see get tongue pie (with chin sauce) under tongue pie n.

to attack verbally.

1890		Bulletin (Sydney) 23 Aug. 14/4: Your bosom is bound to be wrung / By a matron who stands in the doorway / To give you the length of her tongue.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 178: I gave her the length of my tongue and she kept squealing, saying she was sorry, and turning on the tap.
1997		Share Slanguage.

to attack verbally.

1889		C. Deveureux Venus in India I 82: From that day she hated him — quite naturally, I think! Then of course she gave him the nag, nag, rough side of her tongue, until he nearly killed her.
1892		‘’Arry in Venice’ in Punch 27 May 88/1: A narsty one, Luck, and no kid; / Always gives yer the rough of ’er tongue, when you’re quisby, or short of a quid.
c.1900		‘Ramrod’ Nocturnal Meeting 63: [I] gave him the rough side of my tongue.
1929		‘Josphine Tey’ (as ‘Gordon Daviot’) Man in the Queue 166: [T]hey would decide that some one had borrowed [the boat], and would save up ‘the rough side of their tongues’ [...] for the borrower when he should put it back.

to give a scolding, to harangue.

1908

‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘When Woman’s Tongue Wags’ Sporting Times 25 July 1/4: It isn’t a pleasure when she and her ma / Get together, and jointly give tongue.

lit. or fig., to live or act within one’s means or abilities.

1826		‘Nimrod’ in Malet Annals of the Road (1876) 258: ‘Come, come! forty miles of night work, and no guard, can’t be much amiss.’ ‘Why, sir, to be sure we do make tongue and buckle meet’.
1844		New Mthly Mag. & Humorist 164: ‘[D]id you not find it difficult “to make tongue and buckle meet;” or, in plain English, to live upon your pay?’.
1859		W.H. Maxwell Erin-go-bragh 103: No wonder, then, that honest Anthony was sorely puzzled ‘to make tongue and buckle meet’.
1867		Temple Bar 10 413: [H]e could no longer ‘make tongue and buckle meet’.
1874		R. Surtees Jorrocks’ Jaunts 222: [T]hat beggarly Baron [...] has just diddled me out of four Naps and a half, [...] and I really don't know how we are to make ‘tongue and buckle’ meet as the coachmen say.
1891		A. Wanless Sketches & Anecdotes 138: Although her wages were but sma’ / Yet she did act discreet, / And with frugality she made / The tongue and buckle meet .
1939		Treasury Dept. Appropriation Bill 771: Do you think it would be well to review the regulations with a view to making the tongue and buckle meet there?
1945		US Congressional Serial Set 13 Sept. 8: [S]he works hard , raises a hog for her meat , plants and makes a good garden , raises chickens , all of which contribute materially in her case toward making tongue and buckle meet in the support of her family.

see swap spit(s) under swap v.

(Aus.) to have one’s tongue hanging out with thirst.

1902

Bulletin (Sydney) 5 July 13/3: Neither of the wretches would buy me a drink to-day if I was walking on my tongue.

(W.I.) to malign.

1987

cited in Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage (1996).