tooth

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
A tooth

Etymology

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From Middle English tothe, toth, tooth, from Old English tōþ (tooth), from Proto-West Germanic *tanþ, from Proto-Germanic *tanþs (tooth), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dónts (tooth). Related to tusk. Doublet of dent, dens, tind, and tine.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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tooth (plural teeth)

  1. A hard, calcareous structure present in the mouth of many vertebrate animals, generally used for biting and chewing food.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:tooth
    Hyponyms: bicuspid, canine, cuspid, incisor, premolar, molar; see also Thesaurus:tooth
  2. A sharp projection on the blade of a saw or similar implement.
    Synonym: sawtooth
  3. A projection on the edge of a gear that meshes with similar projections on adjacent gears, or on the circumference of a cog that engages with a chain.
  4. Of a rope, the stickiness when in contact with another rope as in a knot.
    Jute has more tooth than polypropylene.
  5. (zoology) A projection or point in other parts of the body resembling the tooth of a vertebrate animal.
    • 1832, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, A monograph of the fluviatile bivalve shells of the river Ohio, page 43:
      Species XXXVI. Obliquaria bullata— (Unio bullata) [] Found at the falls of Ohio; rare; breadth almost two inches; cardinal and lamellar teeth like preceding species; apices rounded, decorticated, but not truncated
  6. (botany) A pointed projection from the margin of a leaf.
  7. (animation) The rough surface of some kinds of cel or other films that allows better adhesion of artwork.
  8. (figurative) Liking, fondness (compare toothsome).
    Synonyms: fondness, appetite, taste, palate
    I have a sweet tooth: I love sugary treats.
    • 1693, John Dryden, “The Third Satire of Aulus Persius Flaccus”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis:
      These are not dishes for thy dainty tooth
  9. (algebraic geometry) An irreducible component of a comb that intersects the handle in exactly one point, that point being distinct from the unique point of intersection for any other tooth of the comb.

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Verb

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tooth (third-person singular simple present tooths, present participle toothing, simple past and past participle toothed)

  1. To provide or furnish with teeth.
    • 1815, William Wordsworth, The Brothers:
      His Wife sate near him, teasing matted wool, / While, from the twin cards toothed with glittering wire / He fed the spindle []
  2. To indent; to jag.
    to tooth a saw
  3. To lock into each other, like gear wheels.
    • 1678, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick Exercises: or the Doctrine of Handy-works[1], page 260:
      Whereas if the Header of one side of the wall, toothed as much as the Stretcher on the other side, it would be a stronger Toothing, and the joints of the Header on one side, would be in the middle of the Headers of the course they lie upon of the other side

Anagrams

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Middle English

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Noun

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tooth

  1. Alternative form of tothe