tonguing

American  

[tuhng-ing] / ˈtʌŋ ɪŋ /

noun

Music.

1. the manipulation of the tongue in playing a wind instrument to interrupt the tone and produce a staccato effect.

---

tonguing British  

/ ˈtʌŋɪŋ /

noun

1. a technique of articulating notes on a wind instrument See single-tongue double-tongue triple-tongue

---

Etymology

Origin of tonguing

First recorded in 1805–15; tongue + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

In general, these stories have a similar pleasure to tonguing a burn on the roof of one’s mouth—their pain is compulsive and satisfying, cathartic, in the most traditional, dramaturgical sense of the term.

From Slate • Mar. 24, 2020

The strike of a hammer on the calf’s exposed femur revealed marrow with no resemblance to the pasty, whitish substance that domestic dogs are so fond of tonguing out of animal bones.

From Washington Times • Apr. 5, 2017

Sample tonguing: "Ulla, ulla, unga, unga garah, atta alia ungaraze."

From Time Magazine Archive

Anyone can restore the "speaking-swinging" style to Bach by singing it with the old flute tonguing: did'll did'll, or even the scat syllables: da ba da ba of the Swingle Singers.

From Time Magazine Archive

That she was lewd, tonguing her teeth at them, upside down and dying, that she vomited a serpent that turned to smoke when it hit the ground.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor