I. ˈtüth noun
( plural teeth ˈtēth)
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English toth, tooth, from Old English tōth; akin to Old High German zand tooth, Old Norse tönn, Gothic tunthus, Latin dent-, dens, Greek odont-, odōn, odous, Sanskrit danta tooth, and probably to Old English etan to eat — more at eat
1.
a. : one of the hard bony appendages that are borne on the jaws or in many of the lower vertebrates on other bones in the walls of the mouth or pharynx and serve especially for the prehension and mastication of food and as weapons of offense and defense — see canine , fang , incisor , molar , premolar , tusk ; crown , root ; cementum , dentin , enamel
b. : any of various usually hard and sharp horny, chitinous, or calcareous processes about the mouth (as on the radula of a mollusk or the mastax of a rotifer) or about any part (as the forceps of an ear wig) of an invertebrate that functions like or resembles the vertebrate jaws
c. : a toothlike process on a bivalve shell — see hinge tooth
2. : a fondness or taste for something specified : liking
an insatiable tooth for candy
3. : an angular or rounded projection resembling or suggesting the tooth of an animal in shape, arrangement, or action
a saw tooth
the teeth of a comb
the teeth of a rake
as
a. : one of the regular projections on the circumference or sometimes on the face of a wheel (as in a machine) that engage with the corresponding projections on another wheel especially to transmit force and motion : cog
b. : a small sharp-pointed marginal lobe (as of a leaf)
c. : a sharp jagged point or projection
their slopes loaded with packed snow and fanged with the brittle teeth of icicles — Victor Canning
to the westward … a line of jagged teeth proclaim … our ultimate objective — Wynford Vaughan-Thomas
d. : any of the bricks or stones left projecting from a wall to provide for a subsequent extension
e. : a projection of paper between perforation holes on a severed perforated edge (as of a stamp) — called also perforation tooth
4.
a. : something that injures, tortures, devours, or destroys as if by a biting, piercing, or gnawing action
only the classic can endure the tooth of time — Elinor Wylie
the teeth of the wind
b. teeth plural : effective means of compulsion, enforcement, or punishment
started turning out the arms which would put teeth into neutrality — E.O.Hauser
reluctant to pass legislation with teeth regarding this issue — T.L.Reller
5. : a roughness of surface produced by mechanical or artificial means on a surface or thing: as
a. : a roughness of surface on a material (as paper or canvas) that enables it readily to take ink, crayon, paints, or water colors
b. : the roughness given an undercoat of paint to anchor the next coat
c. : a mat surface on a negative film ; specifically : a fine varnish coating that permits pencil marks in retouching
•
- from the teeth forward
- in the teeth of
- set one's teeth on edge
- to one's teeth
- to the teeth
[s]tooth.jpg[/s] [
tooth 1a: A outside of a molar: 1 crown, 2 neck, 3 roots; B cross section of a molar: 1 enamel, 2 dentin, 3 pulp, 4 cementum, 5 gum; C dentition of adult human, upper; D dentition of adult human, lower: 1 incisors, 2 canines, 3 bicuspids, 4 molars
]
II. “, ˈtüth verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English tothen, toothen, from toth, tooth, n.
transitive verb
1. : to furnish with teeth ; specifically : indent , jag
tooth a saw
2. : to chew on : bite
3. : to lock into by means of teeth
4. : to roughen the surface of (as with a toothing plane)
intransitive verb
: to engage by means of teeth : gear , mesh