toothachingly

English

Etymology

toothaching +‎ -ly

Adverb

toothachingly (comparative more toothachingly, superlative most toothachingly)

1. So as to cause toothache.
   • 1972, R. B. Read, Gastronomic Tour of Mexico:

     Sweeter still — almost toothachingly so — are chongos zamoranos, a curious confection invented in Zamora in which milk, sugar and spices are boiled for about five days then laid away in syrup.

   • 1974, New York Magazine:

     While this last could be eliminated for my taste, the overall effect is not as toothachingly sweet as some of these cereals can get.

   • 2004, Kij Johnson, Fudoki:

     I recall the taste of the rain, sweet and toothachingly cold; the tiny blows of drops striking my eyelids; my halfbrother's laughter rippling in my ears.

   • 2007 June 6, Melissa Clark, “Sweet and Sour Sit Down to Dessert”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     These two truths coexisted in my mind without overlapping until I bit into a piece of crumb cake so texturally perfect (soft sliver of cake topped by a deep layer of grape-size crumbs), yet so toothachingly sweet that the only antidote was sucking on the lemon in my seltzer.

   • 2015, Jax Peters Lowell, The Gluten-Free Revolution:

     It's why McDonald's finally downsized its portions, why you can now bake a gluten-free version of the same Betty Crocker toothachingly sweet cake mix you enjoyed as a child.

2. Overly in possession of an otherwise positive trait.
   • 1962, The New Republic:

     A college teacher (that makes the heart sink to begin with), he has a literary reputation about which he is agreeably modest (toothachingly), and, since Seymour committed suicide in 1948, Buddy is, at forty, the eldest Glass child.

   • 1991: The Amazing Story of The Fantasticks, by Donald C. Farber and Robert Viagas

     The critics complained that the show was toothachingly darling, though the consensus among its creators is that the show was removed from its open-stage concept and placed in a traditional proscenium environment, breaking the important connection between actor and audience.

3. Painfully, irritatingly.
   • 2011, Ben Jeapes, Jeapes Japes:

     Have you ever wondered how it is possible for someone to drive a motorised vehicle so toothachingly, nerverenderingly slow?