give tongue

present singular third person gives tongue · participle present giving tongue · past gave tongue · participle past given tongue

1. To vocalize loudly.
   1. To bark; to howl, bay.

      The hounds gave tongue as they scented the fox nearby.

      4 more examples

      He never goes by my Kennel but the Dogs give tongue;

      1778, Gregory Lewis Way, Learning at a Loss, or The Amours of Mr. Pedant and Miss Hartley, volume 2, London, page 150

      The black-muzzled, tawny dog, a glimpse of which was seen in the chapter which first introduced its mistress to the reader, here gave tongue in the hall, amidst whose hollow space the deep bark resounded formidably.

      1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Mr. Donne’s Exodus”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 99

      About two o’clock in the morning the moon came out; from somewhere in the distance a coyote gave tongue, and The Worst Bad Man shivered a little.

      1913, Peter B. Kyne, The Three Godfathers, New York: George H. Doran, page 68

      The strange, implacable heart-broken music of hounds giving tongue as they break from cover; […]

      1928, Radclyffe Hall, chapter 4, in The Well of Loneliness, London: Jonathan Cape, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Covici Friede Publishers, October 1932, →OCLC, book 1, section 3, page 40

   2. To cry.

      As the boat drew near the guillemots gave tongue. The sound came against the wind fierce and complaining, antagonistic like the voice of loneliness crying out against them and telling them to be gone—be gone—be gone!

      1919, Henry De Vere Stacpoole, The Beach of Dreams, Toronto: S. B. Gundy, Part 1, Chapter 6, p. 65

2. To ring out, sound.

   […] the bugles gave tongue jubilantly:

   1890, Rudyard Kipling, “The Drums of the Fore and Aft”, in Wee Willie Winkie and Other Stories, Allahabad: A.H. Wheeler, page 88

   3 more examples

   There was a hoarse, rusty little bell on the gate that gave querulous tongue as she pushed it open.

   1899, Alice Dunbar Nelson, “The Goodness of Saint Rocque”, in The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories

   From the belfry of the little church a bell suddenly gave tongue upon a frantic, hurried note that spoke unmistakably of alarm.

   1917, Rafael Sabatini, chapter 1, in The Snare, page 20

   […] guns gave tongue and breech-blocks swung And palms rammed home the shell.

   1918, Gilbert Frankau, “The Song of the Gunner-Dead”, in The Judgement of Valhalla, London: Chatto & Windus, page 16

3. To vocalize audibly.

   His sympathetic school-fellows grasped the full humour of the situation as one man, and gave tongue once more in chorus.

   1903, P. G. Wodehouse, “Harrison’s Slight Error”, in Tales of St. Austin’s, London: A. & C. Black, published 1923, page 45

   2 more examples

   The Momebys had lost their infant child […]; they were looking for it in wild, undisciplined fashion, giving tongue the whole time, which accounted for the outcry which swept through house and garden whenever they returned to try the home coverts anew.

   1912, Saki, “The Quest”, in The Chronicles of Clovis, London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, page 119

   Here were the practice rooms where right round the clock one heard pianos playing scales and snatches of classical music, heard sopranos giving tongue, heard the gruff commentary of tubas practising.

   1978, Lawrence Durrell, chapter 6, in Livia, New York: Viking, published 1979, page 198

   Synonyms: call out, cry out

4. To give expression to (something); to express.

   She felt unable to give tongue to her feelings.

   3 more examples

   The reading of these speeches added much to my limited stock of language, and enabled me to give tongue to many interesting thoughts, which had frequently flashed through my soul, and died away for want of utterance.

   1855, Frederick Douglass, chapter 11, in My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York; Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC

   Mrs. Thacker had a fretful, irritable temper, and the presence of Crazy Jane furnished her with an occasion for giving tongue to her annoyance […]

   1900, Sabine Baring-Gould, “Crazy Jane”, in In a Quiet Village, London: Isbister, page 314

   God, if she only knew what manner of sugarplums danced in my head when she gave tongue to such delicious conceits.

   1979, William Styron, chapter 11, in Sophie’s Choice, New York: Bantam, published 1980, page 378