dogtooth

American  

[dawg-tooth, dog-] / ˈdɔgˌtuθ, ˈdɒg- /

noun

1. Also dog tooth a canine tooth.

2. Architecture. any of a series of small pyramidal ornaments, usually formed by a radiating arrangement of four sculptured leaves, set close together in a concave molding, used especially in England in the 13th century.

---

dogtooth British  

/ ˈdɒɡˌtuːθ /

noun

1. another name for a canine

2. architect a carved ornament in the form of four leaflike projections radiating from a raised centre, used in England in the 13th century

---

Etymology

Origin of dogtooth

First recorded in 1545–55; dog + tooth

Example Sentences

Quarry employees and their families are shunted off to frigid huts perched on the side of Dogtooth Mountain, reachable via treacherous paths carved through the snow.

From New York Times • Oct. 31, 2022

Among them are a machine that has been developed at Utsunomiya University, in Japan, another by Dogtooth, in the U.K., and a third by Octinion, in Belgium.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 8, 2019

The opening sequence, which introduces the audience to James’ bizarro bomb-shelter life, feels a little like a light comic version of Dogtooth, the 2009 cloistered-children drama by The Lobster writer-director Yorgos Lanthimos.

From The Verge • Jul. 27, 2017

You knew Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek expat in London who made "Dogtooth," was going to be up to something interesting with his first English-language film.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 26, 2016

The Trilliums, white and red, the Dogtooth Violet, the Spring-beauty, the Trailing Arbutus—all for the first time got names and became real friends, instead of elusive and beautiful, but depressing mysteries.

From Two Little Savages Being the adventures of two boys who lived as Indians and what they learned by Seton, Ernest Thompson