tang

Etymology 1

From Middle English tange, variant of tonge (“tongs, fang”), from Old Norse tangi (“pointed metal tool”), perhaps related to Old Norse tunga (“tongue”). But see also Old Dutch tanger (“sharp, tart, pinching”).

noun

1. A refreshingly sharp aroma or flavor.
   The miraculous air, heady with ozone and made memorably sweet by leagues of wild flowerets, gave tang and savour to the breath. 1904, O. Henry, The Missing Chord
2. A strong or offensive taste; especially, a taste of something extraneous to the thing itself.
   Wine or cider has a tang of the cask.
3. (figurative) A sharp, specific flavor or tinge.
   a cant of philosophism, and a tang of party politics 1806, Francis Jeffrey, “Memoirs of Dr. Priestley”, in The Edinburgh Review
   What, was it I who bared my heart / Through unrelenting years, / And knew the sting of misery's dart, / The tang of sorrow's tears? 1913, Paul Laurence Dunbar, At Sunset Time
4. A projecting part of an object by means of which it is secured to a handle, or to some other part.
5. The part of a knife, fork, file, or other small instrument, which is inserted into the handle.
6. (firearms) The projecting part of the breech of a musket barrel, by which the barrel is secured to the stock.
7. The part of a sword blade to which the handle is fastened.
8. (zoology) Any of a group of saltwater fish from the family Acanthuridae, especially the genus Zebrasoma.
9. (games) A shuffleboard paddle.
   Coordinate term: biscuit
10. (obsolete) tongue
    1667, John Lacy, Sauny the Scot: Or, the Taming of the Shrew, Act V, Sauny Hear ye, sir; could not ye mistake, and pull her tang out instead of her teeth?
11. (by extension) Anything resembling a tongue in form or position such as the tongue of a buckle.

Etymology 2

Imitative

noun

1. A sharp, twanging sound; an unpleasant tone; a twang.

verb

1. (dated, beekeeping) To strike two metal objects together loudly in order to persuade a swarm of honeybees to land so it may be captured by the beekeeper.
2. To make a ringing sound; to ring.

Etymology 3

Probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Danish tang (“seaweed”), Swedish tång, Icelandic þang

noun

1. (rare) knotted wrack, Ascophyllum nodosum (coarse blackish seaweed)

Etymology 4

Clipping of poontang.

noun

1. (countable, vulgar slang) The vagina.
   The guys like to look at her tang, because that's how they are […] 2002, Lynn Breedlove, Godspeed, St. Martin's Griffin, page 9
2. (uncountable, vulgar slang) sexual intercourse with a woman