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the rough side of one's tongue. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Noun
the rough side of one's tongue (uncountable)
- Angry words, harsh criticism.
- Synonyms: piece of one's mind, rebuke, reprimand, telling off, tongue-lashing
1797, Thomas Bridges, A Burlesque Translation of Homer, 4th edition, London: G.G. and J. Robinson, Book 6, p. 354:But let them, if they plague thee long,
Once feel the rough side of thy tongue:
- 1876, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Charles of Orleans,” Chapter 4, in Familiar Studies of Men and Books, 1882,
- Louis was then in no humour to hear Charles’s texts and Latin sentiments; he had his back to the wall, the future of France was at stake; and if all the old men in the world had crossed his path, they would have had the rough side of his tongue like Charles of Orleans.
1924, George Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan, New York: Dodd, Mead, published 1946, Scene 6, p. 110:[…] let us not be moved by the rough side of a shepherd lass’s tongue.
1940, Nevil Shute, chapter 3, in An Old Captivity, New York: William Morrow:“ […] It’s going to add to my difficulties to take any girl on the trip. If you pile too much on me the flight may be a failure, and we’ll all be sorry then.”
“She gave you a bit of the rough side of her tongue, I suppose?”
Usage notes
A variant of this expression is a lick with the rough side of one's tongue.
1820, Walter Scott, chapter 4, in The Abbot:“Credit me, Mrs. Lilias,” replied the senior, “should I see the time fitting, I would, with right good-will give him a lick with the rough side of my tongue.”
- 1857, George Eliot, Scenes of Clerical Life, “Mr. Gilfil’s Love Story,” Chapter 1,
- he contributed an additional zest to the conviviality on that occasion by informing the company that ‘the parson had given the squire a lick with the rough side of his tongue.’