tonga

name

1. A country and archipelago of Polynesia in Oceania. Official name: Kingdom of Tonga. Capital and largest city: Nuku'alofa.
2. A Bantu language, in the Nyasa branch, spoken in Malawi.
3. A Bantu language, in the Botatwe branch, spoken in Zambia and Zimbabwe.

   “Enela cleared their way through the throng, speaking in Tonga, a heavy language that freighted the air with ceremony.”

4. A Bantu language spoken in Mozambique.
5. A surname.
6. A barangay of Balud, Masbate, Philippines.

noun

1. (India)A light, two-wheeled, horse-drawn carriage used for transportation in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

   “Coming up along the Cart-Road a tonga passed me, and my pony, tired with standing so long, set off at a canter.”

   “When his tyre went flat, he leapt off and shouted for a tonga.”

   “The Muslim ladies who earlier moved out in covered palanquins, dolis and muhafas or completely veiled coaches and victorias are now obliged to go about in tongas, rikshaws and buses leaving aside the earlier scruples.”

2. (uncountable)A drug useful in neuralgia, derived from a Fijian plant supposed to be of the aroid genus Epipremnum.