sublingualadj.n.
/ˌsʌbˈlɪŋɡw(ə)l/, U.S. /ˌsəbˈlɪŋɡw(ə)l/ A. adj.
1. Medicine. Of a medication or treatment: administered by placement under the tongue. Also: designating this method of administration.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > other miscellaneous medicines > [adjective] > to be placed under the tongue
hypoglottidian1657
sublingual1661
hypoglottian1678
1661 R. Lovell Πανζωορυκτολογια, sive Panzoologicomineralogia 515 Sublinguale troches.
1666 G. Harvey Morbus Anglicus 230 Those subliming humours ought rather to be intercepted before they are mounted to the head, by sublingual Pills, Trochisces, [etc.].
1894 Med. & Surg. Reporter 6 Oct. 482/1 (heading) The sublingual administration of hypodermatic tablets.
1914 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 26 Sept. 541/2 I wish to call the attention of army surgeons to the great and obvious advantages of sublingual medication as compared with hypodermic.
1958 Martindale's Extra Pharmacopœia (ed. 24) I. 67 Aleudrin... Isoprenaline sulphate, available as Solution containing 1% for inhalation, and as Sublingual Tablets of 20 mg.
1990 Ironman Oct. 142/1 (advt.) Probably the worst form to take dibencozide is the ‘sublingual’ form—a liquid or tablet that you place under your tongue.
2005 Walrus Feb. 74/1 Health Canada has been asked to approve Sativex, a whole-plant cannabis extract, delivered in a sublingual spray, and a decision could come this year.
2. Anatomy and Zoology. Located under the tongue, or on the undersurface of the tongue; spec. designating various structures located in the floor of the mouth under the tongue, as sublingual artery, sublingual vein, sublingual fossa, etc.sublingual gland: see Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > speech organs > types of speech organ > [adjective] > tongue > part under
sublingual1684
1684 J. Browne Adenochoiradelogia i. ix. 77 (margin) The sublingual Salival Ductus.
1730 R. Holland Short View Nature & Cure Small Pox 65 By opening these sublingual Veins, the Countess of Bedford, almost dying, lost above twelve Ounces.
1791 W. Vaughan Expos. Princ. Anat. & Physiol. I. 371 The Sublingual or Ranine Artery, which arises somewhat above the thyroideal, is distributed to the substance, and muscles of the tongue, and likewise to the sublingual glands.
1836–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. II. 214/1 A depression (sublingual fossa) for the reception of the sublingual gland.
1887 Parkes' Man. Hygiene (ed. 7) ix. 259 The ‘measle-trier’ throws the pig on its back..and looks and feels for the sublingual vesicles containing the Cysticerci.
1912 V. P. Blair Surg. & Dis. Mouth & Jaws 426 The symptoms and treatment of the sublingual cyst were described under ranula.
1949 H. Bailey Demonstr. Physical Signs Clin. Surg. (ed. 11) vi. 65 Palpate the floor of the mouth very thoroughly, sliding the finger well back into the lateral sublingual sulcus.
2001 N.Y. Times 10 Feb. a15/3 Is there a way, electronically speaking, to prove that this really is ‘smash-mouth’ football? Some sort of sublingual miniature dental damage cam?
B. n. Anatomy and Zoology.
A sublingual structure; esp. a sublingual gland.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > secretory organs > gland > specific glands > [noun] > salivary glands
salival1676
sublingual1715
the world > life > the body > speech organs > types of speech organ > [noun] > tongue > part under
sublingual1840
1715 tr. J. Groeneveld Grounds of Physick i. v. 16 And from the Maxiliaries..and Sublinguals of Bartholine..the Mucus and Spittle..continually ouzes out.
1840 G. V. Ellis Demonstr. Anat. 182 One or two of them [sc. arteries] perforate the mylo-hyoid muscle, to anastomose with the sublingual.
1951 G. R. de Beer Vertebr. Zool. (ed. 2) x. 120 They are the parotid (just in front of the ear), the submaxillary (behind the angle of the mouth), the infra-orbital.., and the sublingual.
2009 M. C. Smith & D. M. Sherman Goat Med. (ed. 2) x. 378/1 There are main pairs of salivary glands: the parotids, mandibulars, sublinguals, and buccals.
Compounds
sublingual gland n. (more fully sublingual salivary gland) [after post-classical Latin glandula sublingualis (1653 or earlier)] Anatomy and Zoology either of a pair of small salivary glands located under the tongue, one on each side of the floor of the mouth.
ΚΠ
1694 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 18 229 [The use of] the Musculus Mylohyoideus..in Compressing its subjacent sublingual Glands.
1779 B. Wilmer Cases & Remarks Surg. 81 (note) He contends that the ranula is occasioned by a dilatation of the sublingual salivary gland.
1847 W. Youatt Horse viii. 206 The sublingual glands..sometimes enlarge..and are called gigs, and bladders, and flaps in the mouth.
1904 Jrnl. Med. & Sci. 10 146/2 Pressure over the submaxillary and sublingual glands increased the quantity of pus showing that both glands were involved in the suppurative process.
2001 Brit. Jrnl. Oral & Maxillofacial Surg. 39 217 The author advises that the unconditional removal of the sublingual gland should not be the standard treatment for all ranulas.
Derivatives
ˌsubˈlingually adv. under the tongue.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > treatment by medicine or drug > [adverb] > manner of
intravenously1897
parenterally1909
perorally1926
sublingually1945
a1879 A. H. Garrod Coll. Sci. Papers (1881) ii. 244 I am in the possession of an excellent Spanish specimen of the gular pouch of Otis tarda... In it the gular pouch, opening sublingually, is capacious, and, when distended, egg-shaped with no constriction in any part.
1945 Proc. Soc. Exper. Biol. & Med. 58 185/1 4000 units of penicillin in 0·05 gm of zephiran was administered sublingually to a man.
2000 W. Self How Dead Live (2001) ii. 60 She has her eye on the Oramorph.., and the diamorphine (..to be taken sub-lingually), and the Valium.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
adj.n.1661