Meanings
nountongue-work (uncountable)
- archaicuncountableBabble, chatter; conversation.
I wonder whether you and he have had any tongue-work already.
1857, George Borrow, Romany Rye1 more example
If a man takes to tongue-work it's all over with him. 'Everything's wrong,' says he. That's a big text. But does he want to make everything right? Not he. He'd lose his text.
1866, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XX, in Felix Holt, the Radical […], volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, page 78
Cite this entry
APA
tongue-work. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tongue-work
MLA
“tongue-work.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tongue-work. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tongue-work,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tongue-work.
Source: tongue-work on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.