(mostly plural) An instrument or tool used for manipulating things in a fire without touching them with the hands.
1998, Alberdina Houtman, Marcel Poorthuis, Joshua Schwartz, editors,Sanctity of time and space in tradition and modernity, page232:
[…] these attributes are concrete expressions of God's care and providence and therefore not man-made. This explains the quite bizarre presence of a ‘pair’ oftongs in some lists: in order to make atong one needs atong, and how could the firsttong be made without atong?
1995, Legislative Council of Hong Kong, “Block Crown Lease (Cheung Chau) Ordinance”, inHong Kong Government Gazette[1], pageA2772:
An Ordinance to provide for the termination of the Block Crown Lease of Cheung Chau granted to Wong Wai TsakTong and for sub-lessees under the Block Crown Lease to hold directly from the Crown.
Or plaine and perfite way of teachyng children, to vnderstand, write, and speake, the Latintong, but specially purposed for the priuate brynging vp of youth in Ientlemen and Noble mens houses, and commodious also for all such, as haue forgot the Latin tonge, and would, by themselues, without a Scholemaster, in short tyme, and with small paines, recouer a sufficient habilitie, to vnderstand, write, and speake Latin.
Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the criticaltonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.
當 /当(tong,“to bear; to take responsibility; to match equally”) as recorded in Barclay (1923) in Douglas (1873), where"the person who supplies a private gambling party with room, cards, and food, (customarily)receives a percentage of the winnings" as per Barclay (1923).
東 /东(tong,“host”, literally“east”) according to Manuel (1948) as in做東 /做东(chòe-tong / chò-tong,“to act as a host”) or作東 /作东(chok-tong) as recorded in Douglas (1873), because it was customary in China for the host to sit on the east side of the room or table when receiving a guest, who usually stays on the west side, as per Manuel (1948).
Chan-Yap (1980) also records a ⟨“tôŋ”⟩ (POJ:tong), which she described as'percentage cut of a gambling taken from winners', though she was not clear on which term in Hokkien that she meant by this. CompareIlocanotong(“bribe money”),agtong(“to give bribe money”).
Zorc, R. David; San Miguel, Rachel (1993),Tagalog Slang Dictionary, Manila: De La Salle University Press,→ISBN,page144
Chan-Yap, Gloria (1980), “Hokkien Chinese borrowings in Tagalog”, inPacific Linguistics, volume B, number71 (PDF), Canberra, A.C.T. 2600.: The Australian National University,page146
Santos, Vito C. (1978),Vicassan's Pilipino-English Dictionary, Revised edition (overall work in Tagalog and English), With an Introduction byTeodoro A. Agoncillo, Metro Manila:National Book Store,→ISBN, page2521
Panganiban, José Villa (1973),Diksyunaryo-Tesauro Pilipino-Ingles (overall work in Tagalog and English), Quezon City: Manlapaz Publishing Co., page984
Manuel, E. Arsenio (1948),Chinese elements in the Tagalog language: with some indication of Chinese influence on other Philippine languages and cultures and an excursion into Austronesian linguistics, Manila: Filipiniana Publications,page65
Barclay, Thomas (1923), “當 tong”, inSupplement to Dictionary of the Amoy Colloquial Language (overall work in Hokkien and English), Shanghai: The Commercial Press, Limited,page239
Douglas, Carstairs (1873), “tsok-tong”, inChinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy, With the Principal Variations of the Chang-chew and Chin-chew Dialects. (overall work in Hokkien and English), London: Trübner & Co.,page527;New Edition, With Corrections by the Author.,Thomas Barclay,Lîm Iàn-sîn林燕臣, London: Publishing Office of the Presbyterian Church of England,1899,page527
Douglas, Carstairs (1873), “tóng”, inChinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy, With the Principal Variations of the Chang-chew and Chin-chew Dialects. (overall work in Hokkien and English), London: Trübner & Co.,page528;New Edition, With Corrections by the Author.,Thomas Barclay,Lîm Iàn-sîn林燕臣, London: Publishing Office of the Presbyterian Church of England,1899,page528
Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Đại Nam quấc âm tự vị only glossestong as an adjective (>tong teo) but there's the gloss "Nước chảy trôi đi hết, nước chảy tong" for another entry.”
