wooden tongue
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of wooden tongue
An Americanism dating back to 1910–15
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"Some were friendly, others lacked bedside manners, one even came and inspected me with a wooden tongue depressor," Rhiannon explained.
From BBC • May 16, 2023
Also special: space, wooden tongue depressor, lovely shades of teal throughout, tiny planet the perfect size for Courtney Barnett.
From The Verge • Mar. 16, 2018
The researchers selected four pairs of "odiferous substances" and coated 15 cm circles of clean, demarcated ground area with these substances using a sterile wooden tongue depressor.
From Slate • Jul. 25, 2011
They call it "langue de bois" � wooden tongue � and, unfortunately, we are entering a period in which official tongues will be even more thickly wooden than usual.
From Time Magazine Archive
Just as Dustfinger always carried the means of lighting a fire, she always had a number of things with her: candle stumps, a few pebbles, some paper, and a pencil—her wooden tongue, she called it.
From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
