Idioms With The Word "Tongue"

It's been a couple of days, but I've been thinking about the way that we use the word "tongue."  More specifically, I've been looking at idioms with the word "tongue.

First, you have to know what an idiom is:

idiom - 

a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (e.g., rain cats and dogs, see the light ).

Here are some of the idioms I've heard in my lifetime:

 

Bite your tongue - Biting your tongue extremely limits your ability to form words and to speak. So when someone tells you to bite your tongue it is because you should be stopped from saying something you may regret later.

Hold (one's) tongue -To be or keep silent.

 

Slip of the tongue - an error in speaking in which a word is pronounced incorrectly, or in which the speaker says something unintentionally.  

Tongue-lashing - a severe scolding. 

 

Sharp tongue - an outspoken or harsh manner; a critical manner of speaking.

 

Keep a civil tongue in your head - (slightly formal) if you tell someone to keep a civil tongue in their head, you are telling them to be polite, especially after they have said something rude (often an order).

Tongue in cheek - if you say something tongue in cheek, what you have said is a joke, although it might seem to be serious.

 

On the tip of one's tongue - [of a thought or idea] about to be said or almost remembered. 

 

 Speak with a forked tongue - to tell lies; to try to deceive someone. (I remember this one from western movies that I watched as a kid).

 

All definitions from www.freedictionary.com