tooth

[tooth] /tuθ/

noun, plural teeth.

(in most vertebrates) one of the hard bodies or processes usually attached in a row to each jaw, serving for the prehension and mastication of food, as weapons of attack or defense, etc., and in mammals typically composed chiefly of dentin surrounding a sensitive pulp and covered on the crown with enamel.

(in invertebrates) any of various similar or analogous processes occurring in the mouth or alimentary canal, or on a shell.

any projection resembling or suggesting a tooth.

one of the projections of a comb, rake, saw, etc.

Machinery.

any of the uniform projections on a gear or rack by which it drives, or is driven by, a gear, rack, or worm.
any of the uniform projections on a sprocket by which it drives or is driven by a chain.

Botany.

any small, toothlike marginal lobe.
one of the toothlike divisions of the peristome of mosses.

a sharp, distressing, or destructive attribute or agency.

taste, relish, or liking.

a surface, as on a grinding wheel or sharpening stone, slightly roughened so as to increase friction with another part.

10.

a rough surface created on a paper made for charcoal drawing, watercolor, or the like, or on canvas for oil painting.

verb (used with object), toothed

[tootht, tooth d] /tuθt, tuðd/ (Show IPA), toothing

[too-thing, -th ing] /ˈtu θɪŋ, -ðɪŋ/ (Show IPA)

11.

to furnish with teeth.

12.

to cut teeth upon.

verb (used without object), toothed

[tootht, tooth d] /tuθt, tuðd/ (Show IPA), toothing

[too-thing, -th ing] /ˈtu θɪŋ, -ðɪŋ/ (Show IPA)

13.

to interlock, as cogwheels.

Idioms

14.

by the skin of one's teeth, barely:

He got away by the skin of his teeth.

15.

cast / throw in someone's teeth, to reproach someone for (an action):

History will ever throw this blunder in his teeth.

16.

cut one's teeth on, to do at the beginning of one's education, career, etc., or in one's youth:

The hunter boasted of having cut his teeth on tigers.

17.

in the teeth of,

so as to face or confront; straight into or against:
in the teeth of the wind.
in defiance of; in opposition to:
She maintained her stand in the teeth of public opinion.

18.

long in the tooth, old; elderly.

19.

put teeth in / into, to establish or increase the effectiveness of:

to put teeth into the law.

20.

set one's teeth, to become resolute; prepare for difficulty:

He set his teeth and separated the combatants.

21.

set / put one's teeth on edge,

to induce an unpleasant sensation.
to repel; irritate:
The noise of the machines sets my teeth on edge.

22.

show one's teeth, to become hostile or threatening; exhibit anger:

Usually friendly, she suddenly began to show her teeth.

23.

to the teeth, entirely; fully:

armed to the teeth; dressed to the teeth in furs.

Origin

before 900; Middle English; Old English tōth; cognate with Dutch tand, German Zahn, Old Norse tǫnn; akin to Gothic tunthus, Latin dēns, Greek odoús (Ionic odṓn), Sanskrit dánta

Related forms

toothlike, adjective

Synonyms

8. fondness, partiality, predilection.

Examples from the web for tooth

She had to fight tooth and nail to get the opportunity.
Someone once approached me at a bar and announced she'd set out to get me with a fine tooth comb.
The film disappoints not only by being tooth-achingly saccharine and remarkably un-funny.
She shaded in the last tooth and leaned back to frown at her work.
Maybe they would do an autopsy to find out if he had a rotten tooth.
Someone has increased the tooth gap between the right and lower gear, undoubtedly because of the criticism.
Furthermore, this idea is difficult to test-a preserved thumb spike wouldn't show wear from use the same way a fossil tooth would.
The trick in foraging for a tooth lost in coffee grounds is not to be misled by the clumps.
In this novel, and in this phrase, short in the tooth meets long in the tooth.
If a tooth had a cavity, it would be numbed and pulled, and that was that.

British Dictionary definitions for tooth

tooth

/tuːθ/

noun (pl) teeth (tiːθ)

any of various bonelike structures set in the jaws of most vertebrates and modified, according to the species, for biting, tearing, or chewing related adjective dental

any of various similar structures in invertebrates, occurring in the mouth or alimentary canal

anything resembling a tooth in shape, prominence, or function: the tooth of a comb

any of the various small indentations occurring on the margin of a leaf, petal, etc

any one of a number of uniform projections on a gear, sprocket, rack, etc, by which drive is transmitted

taste or appetite (esp in the phrase sweet tooth)

long in the tooth, old or ageing: used originally of horses, because their gums recede with age

tooth and nail, with ferocity and force: we fought tooth and nail

verb (tuːð; tuːθ)

(transitive) to provide with a tooth or teeth

10.

(intransitive) (of two gearwheels) to engage

Derived Forms

toothless, adjective
toothlike, adjective

Word Origin

Old English tōth; related to Old Saxon tand, Old High German zand, Old Norse tonn, Gothic tunthus, Latin dens

Word Origin and History for tooth

Old English toð (plural teð), from Proto-Germanic *tanth, *tunth (cf. Old Saxon, Danish, Swedish, Dutch tand, Old Norse tönn, Old Frisian toth, Old High German zand, German Zahn, Gothic tunþus), from PIE *dont-/*dent- "tooth" (cf. Sanskrit danta, Greek odontos, Latin dens, Lithuanian dantis, Old Irish det, Welsh dent). Plural form teeth is an instance of i-mutation. Application to tooth-like parts of other objects (saws, combs, etc.) first recorded 1520s.

tooth in Medicine

tooth (tōōth)
n. pl. teeth (tēth)
One of a set of hard, bonelike structures rooted in sockets in the jaws of vertebrates, typically composed of a core of soft pulp surrounded by a layer of hard dentin that is coated with cement or enamel at the crown and used chiefly for biting or chewing food or as a means of attack or defense.

tooth in Science

tooth

(tth)

Plural teeth (tēth)

Any of the hard bony structures in the mouth used to grasp and chew food and as weapons of attack and defense. In mammals and many other vertebrates, the teeth are set in sockets in the jaw. In fish and amphibians, they grow in and around the palate. See also dentition.
A similar structure in certain invertebrate animals.

tooth in Culture

tooth definition

A hard structure, embedded in the jaws of the mouth, that functions in chewing. The tooth consists of a crown, covered with hard white enamel; a root, which anchors the tooth to the jawbone; and a “neck” between the crown and the root, covered by the gum. Most of the tooth is made up of dentin, which is located directly below the enamel. The soft interior of the tooth, the pulp, contains nerves and blood vessels. Humans have molars for grinding food, incisors for cutting, and canines and bicuspids for tearing.

Slang definitions & phrases for tooth

too rich for someone's blood

adjective phrase

Exceeding someone's capabilities, purse, desires, etc; too much: I don't go out with them anymore; it's too rich for my blood (1884+)

tooth in the Bible

one of the particulars regarding which retaliatory punishment was to be inflicted (Ex. 21:24; Lev. 24:20; Deut. 19:21). "Gnashing of teeth" =rage, despair (Matt. 8:12; Acts 7:54); "cleanness of teeth" =famine (Amos 4:6); "children's teeth set on edge" =children suffering for the sins of their fathers (Ezek. 18:2).

Idioms and Phrases with tooth

tooth

In addition to the idiom beginning with

tooth

also see:

also see under:

teeth