click one's tongue

English

Verb

click one's tongue (third-person singular simple present clicks one's tongue, present participle clicking one's tongue, simple past and past participle clicked one's tongue)

1. To make a clicking noise with a sucking action of the tongue, to express disapproval or impatience, urge on a horse, etc.
   • 1896, Joseph Conrad, “The Idiots”, in Tales of Unrest‎^[1], published 1898:

     The driver clambered into his seat, clicked his tongue, and we went downhill.

   • 1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], “Chapter 14”, in Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC:

     Elizabeth raised her gun, which had begun trembling as usual. The beaters halted in a group to watch, and some of them could not refrain from clicking their tongues; they thought it queer and rather shocking to see a woman handle a gun.

   • 1994, Shyam Selvadurai, chapter 2, in Funny Boy‎^[2], Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, page 59:

     Radha Aunty clicked her tongue against her teeth impatiently. “Oh, I’m so tired of that,” she said. “Why can’t we just put it behind us.”

Usage notes

The noise made to express disapproval or impatience generally corresponds to the interjections tut (UK) or tsk (US) (representing a sound made with the tip of the tongue against the teeth); the noise made to urge on a horse corresponds to the interjection tchick (representing a sound made with the one side of the tongue against the teeth).

Synonyms

• cluck one's tongue