"civil tongue" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "civil tongues",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "civil tongue (plural civil tongues)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "keep a civil tongue in one's head"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1855, Charlotte M. Yonge, chapter 3, in The Lances Of Lynwood:",
          "text": "\"[T]here would not have been the least offence had the youth only possessed a civil tongue.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1915, Zane Grey, chapter 4, in The Lone Star Ranger:",
          "text": "\"Mister Duane,\" began Bosomer, in low, stinging tones, \"I happen to be Luke Stevens's side-pardner. . . . An' I want the hoss an' them guns,\" he shouted.\n\"You or anybody else can have them, for all I care. I just fetched them in. But the pack is mine,\" replied Duane. \"And say, I befriended your pard. If you can't use a civil tongue you'd better cinch it.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, Michael Fitzalan, The Gunpowder Plot and Markham, →ISBN, page 30:",
          "text": "They sang \"good morrow\" in reply, making sure they addressed him with a civil tongue; they, after all, wanted a tip for their good service.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A polite manner of speaking."
      ],
      "id": "en-civil_tongue-en-noun-HhqFMt2z",
      "links": [
        [
          "polite",
          "polite"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A polite manner of speaking."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-civil tongue.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0c/En-au-civil_tongue.ogg/En-au-civil_tongue.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/En-au-civil_tongue.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "civil tongue"
}

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "keep a civil tongue in one's head"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "civil tongues",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "civil tongue (plural civil tongues)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1855, Charlotte M. Yonge, chapter 3, in The Lances Of Lynwood:",
          "text": "\"[T]here would not have been the least offence had the youth only possessed a civil tongue.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1915, Zane Grey, chapter 4, in The Lone Star Ranger:",
          "text": "\"Mister Duane,\" began Bosomer, in low, stinging tones, \"I happen to be Luke Stevens's side-pardner. . . . An' I want the hoss an' them guns,\" he shouted.\n\"You or anybody else can have them, for all I care. I just fetched them in. But the pack is mine,\" replied Duane. \"And say, I befriended your pard. If you can't use a civil tongue you'd better cinch it.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, Michael Fitzalan, The Gunpowder Plot and Markham, →ISBN, page 30:",
          "text": "They sang \"good morrow\" in reply, making sure they addressed him with a civil tongue; they, after all, wanted a tip for their good service.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A polite manner of speaking."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "polite",
          "polite"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A polite manner of speaking."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-civil tongue.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0c/En-au-civil_tongue.ogg/En-au-civil_tongue.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/En-au-civil_tongue.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "civil tongue"
}