Wiktionary

tongs

English edit

 
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Tongs used for grasping food.

Pronunciation edit

Etymology 1 edit

tong ("tool for manipulating things in a fire") + -s

Noun edit

tongs pl (plural only)

  1. An instrument or tool used for picking things up without touching them with the hands or fingers, consisting of two slats or grips hinged at the end or in the middle, and sometimes including a spring to open the grips.
    • 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:
      There was also hairdressing: hairdressing, too, really was hairdressing in those times — no running a comb through it and that was that. It was curled, frizzed, waved, put in curlers overnight, waved with hot tongs; […].
  2. (by extension) A large scissors-like two-piece center-hinged forged-iron implement with oval-loop handles and with pointed tips turned inward (in the same plane as and perpendicular to the handles) to facilitate lifting and carrying a block of ice. Often called ice tongs.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
See also edit

Etymology 2 edit

Noun edit

tongs

  1. plural of tong (“instrument”)

Etymology 3 edit

Verb edit

tongs

  1. third-person singular simple present indicative of tong

Etymology 4 edit

Noun edit

tongs

  1. plural of tong (“Chinese secret society”)

Anagrams edit

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