tongs
pronunciation
How to pronounce tongs in British English:
UK [tɒŋz]
How to pronounce tongs in American English:
US [tɑːŋz]
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- Noun:
- any of various devices for taking hold of objects; usually have two hinged legs with handles above and pointed hooks below
Word Origin
- tongs
- tongs: [OE] The etymological notion underlying the word tongs is of ‘biting’. It comes from a prehistoric Germanic *tanguz (source also of German zange, Dutch and Danish tang, and Swedish tång), which went back ultimately to the Indo-European base *dank- ‘bite’ (ancestor of Greek dáknein ‘bite’). (Tong ‘Chinese secret society’ [19], incidentally, comes from Cantonese tong ‘assembly hall’.)
- tongs (n.)
- Old English tange, tang "tongs, pincers, foreceps, instrument for holding and lifting," from Proto-Germanic *tango (cognates: Old Saxon tanga, Old Norse töng, Swedish tång, Old Frisian tange, Middle Dutch tanghe, Dutch tang, Old High German zanga, German Zange "tongs"), literally "that which bites," from PIE root *denk- "to bite" (cognates: Sanskrit dasati "biter;" Greek daknein "to bite," dax "biting"). For sense evolution, compare French mordache "tongs," from mordre "to bite."
Example
- 1. But don 't use the tongs for the fish : a spatula is less likely to tear the fillets .
- 2. What cook doesn 't use stainless-steel cooking tongs ?
- 3. Then tongs were used to prise his mouth open after he refused to swallow excrement .
- 4. But it 's been scientifically proven that cars and aeroplanes contribute more to global warming than hairdryers and curling tongs .
- 5. Then use the pair of kitchen shears provided to snip off individual cubes and give it a quick toss with your kitchen tongs .