▪ I. ‖ tonga, n.1 E. Ind.
(ˈtɒŋgə)
Also tanga.
[a. Hindī tāngā.]
a. A light and small two-wheeled carriage or cart used in India.
| 1874 Settlement Rep. Nasik (Yule), Driving light tongas drawn by ponies or oxen. 1882 F. M. Crawford Mr. Isaacs ix, The Himalayan tonga is a thing of delight. 1894 I. Petrie in Life vii. (1900) 136 A tonga resembles a squat dog-cart with a hood. 1904 Times 6 Jan. 5/2 The Indian tongas used in South Africa were very suitable over even ground. |
b. attrib. and Comb. as tonga cart, tonga-driver, tonga-horn, tonga road; tonga wallah, the driver of a tonga.
| 1881 Let. fr. Bombay Govt. to Govt. of India 17 June (Yule), Gallantly defending the mail tonga cart. |
| 1882 F. M. Crawford Mr. Isaacs ix, Every tonga-driver is provided with a post horn. |
| 1886 Kipling Departm. Ditties, etc. (1899) 86 So long as 'neath the Kalka hills The tonga-horn shall ring. |
| 1894 I. Petrie in Life vii. (1900) 141 The tonga road was demolished by recent snows. |
| 1942 M. R. Anand Sword & Sickle i. 27 A tonga wallah called rudely. 1955 R. P. Jhabvala To whom she Will xiv. 98 The tonga-walla in his stained turban cursed and muttered and whipped his horse. 1978 ‘M. M. Kaye’ Far Pavilions ii. x. 155 Tell the tonga-wallah to wait. |
▪ II. ‖ tonga, n.2
(ˈtɒŋgə)
[An arbitrary name, said in Pharm. Jrnl. to have been invented by Mr. Ryder, who first sent specimens to Europe.]
A drug extracted from the root of the Fijian plant Epipremnum pinnatum, Engler, used by the natives of Fiji as a remedy for neuralgia; also known in England and America. Also attrib.
(For its introduction into England, see The Lancet for March, 1880, 360, 361, also 445, and the Pharmaceutical Journal for April, 1880. A full history in Gardeners' Chron. 1882, XVII. 180, and Journal of Bot. 1882, 332.)
| 1880 S. Ringer in Lancet 6 Mar. 360/2 (heading) On Tonga: a remedy for neuralgia, used by the natives of the Fiji Islands. 1880 Kew Report 55. 1882 N. E. Brown in Gard. Chron. XVII. 180/2 The Tonga plant is an ornamental climber of rapid growth, with bold dark green pinnatisect leaves. 1883 Science I. 80/2 The drug tonga is shown..to be the product mainly of a climbing aroid (Epiprem[n]um mirabile). |
Hence tongine (ˈtɒŋgaɪn), Chem.: see quot.
| 1890 Billings Nat. Med. Dict., Tongine, a volatile alkaloid found by Gerrard in tonga. |
▪ III. ‖ tonga, n.3
(ˈtɒŋgə)
[Native name in Peru.]
A beverage inducing stupefaction and delirium, prepared from the seeds of Datura sanguinea by the Indians of Peru. Also in comb.
| 1852 Kingston Manco iii. (1853) 36 Our brother has but drunk the tonga; his spirit has departed for a season. Ibid. 37 The group of Indians..collected round the tonga-drinker. 1857 Dunglison Med. Lex. s.v. Datura, A narcotic drink called Tonga. |