tong

Plural: tongs

Noun

An instrument or tool used for manipulating things in a fire without touching them with the hands.
A Chinese lineage organization responsible for managing ancestral land.
A Chinese secret society or gang.
Obsolete spelling of tongue.

Verb

Verb Forms: tonged, tonging, tongs

To lift, grasp, or handle with tongs.
To use tongs.
To grab, manipulate or transport something using tongs.

Examples

She carefully tonged the ’Q’ tile from her rack, ready for a high-scoring play.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English tonge (“tongs, fang”), tange, from Old English tange, from Proto-West Germanic *tangu, from Proto-Germanic *tangō, from Proto-Indo-European *denḱ- (“to bite”). Cognate with Old Norse tǫng (modern Icelandic töng), Old High German zanga (modern German Zange). Other cognates include Sanskrit दशति (dáśati, “to bite”) and Albanian dang (“bite, nip”).

Scrabble Score: 5

tong: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
tong: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
tong: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 7

tong: valid Words With Friends Word