tang

plural tangs

1. A refreshingly sharp aroma or flavor.

   a tang of citrus

   2 more examples

   The miraculous air, heady with ozone and made memorably sweet by leagues of wild flowerets, gave tang and savour to the breath.

   1904, O. Henry, The Missing Chord

   To make yogurt, milk or cream is pasteurized and homogenized, then Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophiles bacteria are added to convert the lactose into lactic acid. This is what thickens it, and gives it the distinct tang.

   2022 July 18, “Food for Thought: A Short History of Yogurt”, in BC Dairy

   Synonyms: bite, piquancy, spiciness, twang, zing · Antonyms: blandness, dullness

2. A strong or offensive taste; especially, a taste of something extraneous to the thing itself.

   a tang of cellar

   1 more example

   Wine or cider has a tang of the cask.

   Synonyms: twang

3. figurativelyA sharp, specific flavor or tinge.

   a tang of pedantry

   3 more examples

   Such proceedings had a strong tang of tyranny.

   1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI)

   a cant of philosophism, and a tang of party politics

   1806, Francis Jeffrey, “Memoirs of Dr. Priestley”, in The Edinburgh Review

   What, was it I who bared my heart / Through unrelenting years, / And knew the sting of misery's dart, / The tang of sorrow's tears?

   1913, Paul Laurence Dunbar, At Sunset Time

4. A projecting part of an object by means of which it is secured to a handle, or to some other part.

   (archaic)

   2 more examples

   slip the cable over the tang

   "And inside the joints, these so-called O-rings are supposed to expand to make a seal—is that right?" ¶ "Yes, sir. In static conditions they should be in direct contact with the tang and clevis and squeezed twenty-thousandths of an inch."

   1988, Richard Feynman, Ralph Leighton, "What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character, New York, N.Y.; London: W. W. Norton & Company, →OCLC, page 150

   Synonyms: fang

   1. The part of a knife, fork, file, or other instrument or hand tool, which is inserted into the handle.

      full-tang

      1 more example

      A full-tang knife is strongest against handle breakage, but partial-tang knives are common because of a combination of facts: they are inexpensive, and in some applications any manner of use that would exceed the handle's limit is not an appropriate manner of use.

      Synonyms: fang

   2. The part of a sword blade to which the handle is fastened.

      I spent the evening collecting the abandoned nests of birds from a rock face a half league distant, and that night I struck fire from the tang of Terminus Est and boiled the coarse meal (which took a long time to cook, because of the altitude) and ate it.

      1982, Gene Wolfe, chapter 27, in The Sword of the Lictor (The Book of the New Sun; 3), New York: Timescape, →ISBN, page 200

      Synonyms: fang

   3. engineeringThe projecting part of the breech of a musket barrel, by which the barrel is secured to the stock.

      The rifle carried a vernier sight on the tang[…]

      1985, Cormac McCarthy, chapter IV, in Blood Meridian […] , →OCLC

      Synonyms: fang

5. gamesA shuffleboard paddle.
6. obsoleteObsolete form of tongue.

   1667, John Lacy, Sauny the Scot: Or, the Taming of the Shrew, Act V, Sauny Hear ye, sir; could not ye mistake, and pull her tang out instead of her teeth?

7. broadlyAnything resembling a tongue in form or position, such as the tongue of a buckle.

plural tangs

1. A sharp, twanging sound; an unpleasant tone; a twang.

present singular third person tangs · participle present tanging · participle past tanged · past tanged

1. datedagricultureTo strike two metal objects together loudly in order to persuade a swarm of honeybees to land so it may be captured by the beekeeper.
2. To make a ringing sound; to ring.

   let thy tongue tang arguments of state

   c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene v]

plural tangs

1. countablerareuncountableknotted wrack, Ascophyllum nodosum (coarse blackish seaweed)

plural tangs

1. countablevulgarThe vagina or vulva.

   The guys like to look at her tang, because that's how they are […]

   2002, Lynn Breedlove, Godspeed, St. Martin's Griffin, →ISBN, page 9

2. uncountablevulgarSexual intercourse with a woman

plural tangs

1. biologyAny of a group of saltwater fish from the family Acanthuridae, especially the genus Zebrasoma.

   Synonyms: surgeonfish

alternative T'ang · alternative Tʻang

1. Tang Dynasty, the imperial dynasty of China which reigned from 618 to 907.

   The two sculptures, which were part of religious rites, belong to the Tang dynasty, which ruled between 618 and 907 AD and is considered a golden period of the Chinese civilization.

   2023 October 26, “Australia returns three smuggled historical artifacts to China”, in EFE, sourced from Sydney, Australia (EFE), archived from the original on 26 Oct 2023, Culture, Latest news

2. Later Tang, the Turkic dynasty of China which lasted from 923 to 936.

   Empress Liu (ca. 890-926 A.D.), whose birthplace was Chenan in Wei (now Chenan county, Hebei province), was the wife of Li Cunxu, who reigned as Emperor Zhuangzong, during the Tang dynasty.

   2000, Notable Women of China: Shang Dynasty to the Early Twentieth Century, M.E. Sharpe, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 235

3. Southern Tang. A kingdom in China which existed between 937 and 975.
4. Any of a number of places in China.
   1. A county of Baoding, Hebei, China.

      A biography of Hu claims that Hu's attitudes changed in 1961, after he was sent to supervise agricultural policy changes in Tang county, Hebei province.

      1996, Jasper Becker, Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine, The Free Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 328

5. A Chinese surname from Mandarin.

plural Tangs · alternative T'ang

1. A Chinese surname from Mandarin.

plural Tangs

1. A Chinese surname from Cantonese.

plural Tangs

1. A Chinese surname from Cantonese.

plural Tangs

1. A Chinese surname from Teochew.

plural Tangs

1. A Chinese surname from Hokkien.

1. Any of a number of places, including a village in Iran and a village in Afghanistan.

1. A gewog of Bumthang District, Bhutan.