sublingual, a. (n.)
(sʌbˈlɪŋgwəl)
[ad. mod.L. sublinguālis: see sub- 1 a, b and lingual. Cf. F. sublingual (from 16th c.), etc.]
A. adj.
1. Med. Of a pill, etc.: That is placed under the tongue to be sucked.
| 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 515 Sublinguale troches. 1666 G. Harvey Morbus Angl. (1672) 114 Those subliming humours ought..to be intercepted..by sublingual Pills. 1958 Martindale's Extra Pharmacopœia (ed. 24) I. 67 Aleudrin... Isoprenaline sulphate, available as Solution containing 1% for inhalation, and as Sublingual Tablets of 20 mg. 1980 Amer. Speech LV. 52 Nitroglycerine sublingual tablets given to heart patients for angina. |
2. Anat. Situated under the tongue or on the under-side of the tongue. Also, belonging to the sublingua.
sublingual gland, the smallest salivary gland situated between the tongue on either side of the floor of the mouth. So s. artery, supplying the s. gland, side of the tongue, etc.; s. cyst, due to obstruction of the s. gland, etc., = ranula; s. fossa, which lodges the s. gland. s. nerve = hypoglossal nerve.
| 1694 Phil. Trans. XVIII. 229 [The use of] the Musculus Mylohyoideus..in Compressing its subjacent sublingual Glands. 1720 Ibid. XXXI. 7 The Buccal, Labial, internal Maxillar, and sublingual Glands, are of a yellow Colour. 1831 R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 653 The Sublingual Artery, which is sometimes a division of the submental. 1836–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. II. 214/1 A depression (sublingual fossa) for the reception of the sublingual gland. 1872 Bryant Pract. Surg. 256 marg., Sebaceous sublingual cysts. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 165/1 In that genus [Hylobates] we first meet with a sub-lingual process (which becomes much larger in the lower apes). 1890 Billings Nat. Med. Dict., Sublingual caruncle, the papilla at which Wharton's duct opens, behind lower incisor teeth. |
B. n. A sublingual gland, artery, etc.
| 1720 Phil. Trans. XXXI. 7 They are as distinct from the Buccal, as the Sublinguals are from the internal Maxillars. 1840 G. V. Ellis Anat. 182 One or two of them [sc. arteries] perforate the mylo-hyoid muscle, to anastomose with the sublingual. |
Hence subˈlingually adv., under the tongue.
| 1945 Proc. Soc. Exper. Biol. & Med. LVIII. 185/1, 4000 units of penicillin in 0·05 gm of zephiran was administered sublingually to a man. 1961 Lancet 9 Sept. 587/2 Testosterone was given sublingually. 1980 Monthly Index Med. Specialities Feb. 76/3 Lingraine... Ergotamine tartrate 2mg; green tab. Migraine [etc.]... 1 sublingually at onset of attack. |