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Tongs vs Thong - What's the difference?

tongs | thong |

As nouns the difference between tongs and thong

is that tongs is (plural of lang=enCategory:English plurals) An instrument or tool used for picking things up without touching them with the hands or fingers, consisting of two slats or grips hinged at the end or in the middle, and sometimes including a spring to open the grips while thong is a strip of leather.

As a verb tongs

is third-person singular of tong.

tongs

English

(wikipedia tongs)

Etymology 1

tong ("tool for manipulating things in a fire") + -s

Noun

(en-plural noun)
  • (English plurals) An instrument or tool used for picking things up without touching them with the hands or fingers, consisting of two slats or grips hinged at the end or in the middle, and sometimes including a spring to open the grips.
  • *
  • *:There was also hairdressing: hairdressing, too, really was hairdressing in those times — no running a comb through it and that was that. It was curled, frizzed, waved, put in curlers overnight, waved with hot tongs ;.
  • (lb) (English plurals) A large scissors-like two-piece center-hinged forged-iron implement with oval-loop handles and with pointed tips turned inward (in the same plane as and perpendicular to the handles) to facilitate lifting and carrying a block of ice. Often called ice tongs.
    • Derived terms
    * ice tongs * pipe tongs

    Verb

    (head)
  • (tong)

    • See also

    * forceps * pincers * pliers * scissors * shears * tong * tweezers

    Etymology 2

    tong ("Chinese secret society") + s

    Noun

    (head)

    • Anagrams

    *

    thong

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A strip of leather.
  • (usually, in the plural, Australia, US) An item of footwear, usually of rubber, secured by two straps which join to pass between the big toe and its neighbour.
  • * 1964 , The Beach Boys, All Summer Long
    • T-shirts, cut-offs, and a pair of thongs (T-shirts, cut-offs, and a pair of thongs).
  • * 2006 , Peter Murray, David Poole, Grant Jones, Contemporary Issues in Management and Organisational Behaviour , Thomson, page 108,
    • Players turned up for questioning wearing thongs , shorts and T-shirts.
  • * 2008 , Steve Parish, Eccentric Australia , page 104,
    • Thongs are the favoured footwear for many Aussies, especially near the beaches, but most people in the Outback find that they can?t put a foot wrong with a tough, nicely worn-in pair or workboots.
  • * 2009 , Charles Rawlings-Way, Sydney , Lonely Planet, page 126,
    • You shouldn?t face condescension if you rock into a boutique in your thongs and a singlet, but neither will you be treated like a princess just because you?ve splashed $5000 on daddy?s credit card.
  • (UK, US, New Zealand) An undergarment or swimwear consisting of very narrow strips designed to cover just the genitals and nothing more.
    • No! I won't buy you a thong . You're too young for that.

    Synonyms

    * (an item of footwear) flip-flop, jandal (New Zealand) * (a undergarment or swimwear) G-string, butt floss

    See also

    * sandal