† double-tongue, n. Obs.
1. Duplicity or deceitfulness of speech. (Properly two words, double tongue: see double a. 5.)
| c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶570 Þe sinne of double tonge suche as speken faire biforn folk and wikkedly bihynde. 14.. [see double a. 5]. |
2. Herb. The shrub Ruscus Hypoglossum; so called from the leaves springing from the middle of the leaf-like stalks or phyllodes.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. xiii. 674 Double-tongue hath..thicke brownish leaues..vppon the whiche there groweth in the midle of euery leafe another smal leafe fashioned like a tongue. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 284 marg., Bislingua. Horse-tongue, or Double-tongue. |