tooth

English Online Dictionary. What means tooth‎? What does tooth mean?

English

Etymology

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

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: to͞oth, IPA^(key): /tuːθ/, (uncommon) /tʊθ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /tuθ/
• (Wales (usually), Midlands (especially Birmingham)) IPA^(key): /tʊθ/
• (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA^(key): /tʉθ/
• Rhymes: -uːθ, -ʊθ
• Homophone: twoth

Noun

tooth (plural teeth)

2. 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

3. A sharp projection on the blade of a saw or similar implement.

   Synonym: sawtooth

4. 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.
5. Of a rope, the stickiness when in contact with another rope as in a knot.

6. (zoology) A projection or point in other parts of the body resembling the tooth of a vertebrate animal.
7. (botany) A pointed projection from the margin of a leaf.
8. (animation) The rough surface of some kinds of cel or other films that allows better adhesion of artwork.
9. (figurative) Liking, fondness (compare toothsome).

   Synonyms: fondness, appetite, taste, palate
10. (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

Translations

See also

Verb

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

1. To provide or furnish with teeth.
2. To indent; to jag.

   to tooth a saw

3. To lock into each other, like gear wheels.

Anagrams

• Hotot

Middle English

Noun

tooth

1. Alternative form of tothe