tang1
/taŋ
/noun
1 [in singular] A strong taste, flavour, or smell: the clean salty tang of the sea...
- The balmy wind caressed their cheeks as they could taste the salty tang of the sea on their lips.
- Tasting the salty tang of my own sweat, I sighed tiredly.
- She had missed the smell of the sea, the salty tang to the breeze that brushed her cloak and her hair.
Synonyms
flavour, taste, savour;
sharpness, zest, zestiness, bite, edge, smack, piquancy, spice, spiciness, relish, tastiness
informal zip, punch, ginger, kick, pep
smell, odour, aroma, fragrance, perfume, redolence
1.1A characteristic quality: his words came out with a distinct tang of broad Lancashire...
- Even the air was electric, edged with the tantalising tang of uncertainty, of the unexpected.
- He created a unique fusion of the swing of the US big bands of the 40s and the tang of his Cuban roots, aimed fairly and squarely at the dance floor and at popular appeal.
- As well as rural Forties class culture, with a Northern tang, the other influence is Heath Robinson, that genius inventor of mad machines.
2The projection on the blade of a tool such as a knife, by which the blade is held firmly in the handle: a full tang is used for strength...
- The knife has a curvaceous handle with front and rear guards built into the full tang blade steel.
- This Japanese Sword Index has very detailed and thorough information about sword types, blades, tangs, even flaws.
- The models have concealed tangs inside the handles, again with one-piece construction of solid steel.
Origin
Middle English (denoting a snake's tongue, formerly believed to be a stinging organ; also denoting the sting of an insect): from Old Norse tangi 'point, tang of a knife'.
In medieval times a tang was the forked tongue of a snake, which was believed to be its ‘sting’. The word goes back to Old Norse tangi ‘the point of a knife’. The idea of a piercing point lies behind the modern sense of ‘a penetrating flavour’.
Rhymes
tang2
/taŋ/verb [no object]
Make a loud ringing or clanging sound: the bronze bell tangs...
- All of a sudden St. Philip's ten bells start tanging - one oclock already - and at once the workshops and factories around the yard begin disgorging throngs of workers on their way to lunch
- The joy-bells tang out a merry peal, and the inhabitants in general put lights into their windows.
Origin
Mid 16th century: imitative.
tang3
/taŋ/noun
A surgeonfish which occurs around reefs and rocky areas, where it browses on algae.
- Genus Acanthurus, family Acanthuridae: several species, in particular the blue tang (A. coeruleus) of the western Atlantic, and the convict tang (A. triostegus) of the Indo-Pacific.
- What struck me most were the brilliantly-coloured blue tangs, surgeonfish which don't want to be photographed, and the soft corals.
- Aided by a friendly blue tang called Dory, who suffers from short-term memory loss, Marlin travels through shark infested waters, overcoming myriad dangers to reunite with his beloved boy.
Origin
Mid 18th century: from tang1.
Tang4
/taŋ/A dynasty ruling China 618-circa 906, a period noted for territorial conquest and great wealth and regarded as the golden age of Chinese poetry and art.