fang

¹ American  

[fang] / fæŋ /

noun

1. one of the long, sharp, hollow or grooved teeth of a venomous snake by which poison is injected.

2. a canine tooth.

3. a tooth resembling a dog's.

4. the root of a tooth.

5. one of the chelicerae of a spider.

6. a pointed, tapering part of a thing.

7. Machinery. the tang of a tool.

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fang ² American  

[fang] / fæŋ /

verb (used with object)

British Dialect.

1. to seize; grab.

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Fang ³ American  

[fang, fahng, fahn] / fæŋ, fɑŋ, fɑ̃ /

Also Fan

noun

plural

Fangs,

plural

Fang

1. Also called Pahouin, Pangwe.  a member of an Indigenous people of Gabon, Cameroon, and adjacent areas.

2. the Bantu language spoken by this people.

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fang ¹ British  

/ fæŋ /

noun

1. the long pointed hollow or grooved tooth of a venomous snake through which venom is injected

2. any large pointed tooth, esp the canine or carnassial tooth of a carnivorous mammal

3. the root of a tooth

4. informal (usually plural) tooth

   clean your fangs

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fang ² British  

/ fæŋ /

verb

1. to drive at great speed

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noun

1. an act or instance of driving in such a way

   we took the car for a fang

Fang ³ British  

/ fæŋ, fɑːŋ /

noun

1. a member of a Negroid people of W Africa, living chiefly in the rain forests of Gabon and Rio Muni: noted for their use of iron and copper money and for their sculpture

2. the language of this people, belonging to the Bantu group of the Niger-Congo family

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fang Scientific  

/ făng /

1. A long, pointed tooth in vertebrate animals or a similar structure in spiders, used to seize prey and sometimes to inject venom. The fangs of a poisonous snake, for example, have a hollow groove through which venom flows.

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Other Word Forms

• fanged adjective
• fangless adjective
• fanglike adjective
• unfanged adjective

Etymology

Origin of fang¹

First recorded before 1050; Middle English “prey, purchase, spoils,” Old English: “booty”; cognate with German Fang “capture, booty,” Old Norse fang “a grasp, hold”; fang ²

Origin of fang²

First recorded before 900; Middle English fangen, fengen, earlier and Old English fon “to seize, catch”; cognate with Old Saxon fangan and fahan, German fangen and fahen, Old Icelandic fangan and fá

Example Sentences

"It caught the back of my arm with one fang and the other fang got caught in my polo shirt," he said.

From BBC • Sep. 19, 2023

“The first great work of art I bought was a fang from the French artist and collector Arman.”

From New York Times • Feb. 14, 2023

Those are definitely not the hybrids, despite “the fur and fang and fury” that Moreno-Garcia unleashes as justice claws its way through the book’s final pages.

From Washington Post • Jul. 28, 2022

They also took screenshots of products offered for sale on Facebook, from elephant ivory bracelets and rings trimmed in 14-karat gold to intricate happy buddha ivory carvings, whole rhino horns, and tiger fang pendants.

From National Geographic • Dec. 18, 2020

No beast of prey could fit into that log, or reach beak, talon, fang, or claw deep enough to get at Abel where he planned to sleep.

From "Abel's Island" by William Steig

Related Words

• fingernail
• paw
• tentacle