tongue /tʌŋ/► SEE ALLget your tongue round/around sthroll/slip/trip off the tonguea silver/smooth tongue(with) tongue in cheekbite your tongue(has the) cat got your tongue?find your voice/tonguehave a loose tongueloosen sb’s tongueyour mother tonguehold your peace/tonguehave a sharp tonguea slip of the tongue/penbe on the tip of your tonguewatch your mouth/tongue ●get your ˈtongue round/around sthmanage to say a difficult word correctly正确发出（难读单词）的音◆I sometimes find it difficult to get my tongue around the word ‘sixth’. 有时我发现 sixth 这个词的音不好发。●roll/slip/trip off the ˈtonguebe easy to say or pronounce容易念；好发音；顺口◆It’s not a name that exactly trips off the tongue, is it? 这个名字不太顺口，对吧？●a ˌsilver/ˌsmooth ˈtonguethe ability to talk in a very pleasing and polite way, to make people do what you want好口才；伶俐的口齿◆It was his silver tongue that got him the job. 他因为善于言谈才得到了这份工作。▸ˌsilver-ˈtongued, ˌsmooth-ˈtongued
adjective
◆smooth-tongued salesmen 能言善道的推销员●(with) tongue in ˈcheek ( with your tongue in your ˈcheek) if you say sth with your tongue in your cheek, you are not being serious and mean it as a joke说说而已；开玩笑地◆I never know if Charlie’s serious or if he’s speaking with tongue in cheek. 我总是分不清查利是说正经的还是在开玩笑。◆a tongue-in-cheek remark 言不由衷的话OPPin all seriousness●bite your ˈtonguestop yourself from saying sth that might upset sb or cause an argument, although you want to speak（咬住舌头）忍住不说；隐忍不言（避免祸从口出）◆I didn’t believe her explanation but I bit my tongue.我不相信她的解释，可是我忍住没有说出来。OPPgive sb a piece of your mind●(has the) cat got your tongue? (informal) why don’t you say anything?你怎么不吭声◆What’s the matter — cat got your tongue?你怎么了，像个闷葫芦似的？●find your ˈvoice/ˈtongue (informal) finally be able to speak after being too nervous or shy to do so终于能够（克服紧张或羞涩）开口说话◆He sat silent through the first half of the meeting before he found his tongue.他一直坐着不吭声，会都开了一半，他才缓过神来开口说话。●have a loose ˈtonguetalk too much, especially about things that are private口无遮拦；嘴不严◆Be careful what you tell Sam — she’s got a very loose tongue, you know.跟萨姆说话要当心，你知道，她嘴不严，话太多。●loosen sb’s ˈtonguemake sb talk more freely than usual使无拘束地说话；使说话无顾忌◆A bottle of wine had loosened Harry’s tongue.一瓶酒下肚，哈里的话匣子便打开了。●your ˌmother ˈtonguethe language you first learned to speak as a child; your native language母语；本族语◆She was born in Singapore, but her mother tongue is French.她生在新加坡，但母语是法语。●ˌhold your ˈpeace/ˈtongue (old-fashioned) say nothing; remain silent although you would like to give your opinion不作声；保持缄默◆We don’t want anyone to know what’s happened, so you’d better hold your tongue — do you understand?我们不想任何人知道发生了什么，所以你最好什么都别说，明白了吗？◆I didn’t want to start another argument, so I held my peace.我不想再引起一场争辩，于是保持沉默。●have a sharp ˈtongue (informal) (of a person人) often speak in an unkind or unpleasant way牙尖嘴利；言语尖刻；说话刻薄◆You’ve got to be careful of her, she’s got a sharp tongue.你得当心她，她可是牙尖嘴利的。▸sharp-ˈtongued
adjective
◆a sharp-tongued old man说话尖刻的老头●a slip of the ˈtongue/ˈpena small mistake when speaking or writing口误；笔误◆Did I say North Street? Sorry, that was a slip of the tongue — I meant South Street.我说是北大街吗？对不起，那是口误 － 我想说南大街。●be on the tip of your ˈtongueused when you are speaking and cannot remember a word, name, etc. but feel that you will remember it very soon就在嘴边（可是一时想不起来）◆What’s her name? You know, that tall Italian girl…it’s on the tip of my tongue…Claudia, that’s it!她叫什么来着？就那个高高的意大利女孩…就在我嘴边上…克劳迪娅，想起来了！●watch your ˈmouth/ˈtonguebe careful what you say in order not to offend sb or make them angry说话当心；注意言辞◆Now, you just watch your mouth around your grandparents, Billy!比利，在祖父母跟前不要乱说话！OPPshoot your mouth off (about sth)