tusk

American  

[tuhsk] / tʌsk /

noun

• tusks
  plural

1. (in certain animals) a tooth developed to great length, usually one of a pair, as in the elephant, walrus, and wild boar, but singly in the narwhal.

2. a long, pointed, or protruding tooth.

3. a projection resembling the tusk of an animal.

4. Also called gain. Carpentry. a diagonally cut shoulder at the end of a timber for strengthening a tenon.

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verb (used with object)

1. to dig up or tear off with the tusks.

2. to gore with a tusk.

verb (used without object)

1. to dig up or thrust at the ground with the tusks.

tusk British  

/ tʌsk /

noun

1. a pointed elongated usually paired tooth in the elephant, walrus, and certain other mammals that is often used for fighting

2. the canine tooth of certain animals, esp horses

3. a sharp pointed projection

4. Also called: tusk tenon. building trades a tenon shaped with an additional oblique shoulder to make a stronger joint

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verb

1. to stab, tear, or gore with the tusks

tusk Scientific  

/ tŭsk /

1. A long, pointed tooth, usually one of a pair, projecting from the mouth of certain animals, such as elephants, walruses, and wild pigs. Tusks are used for procuring food and as weapons.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• tusked
  adjective
• tuskless
  adjective
• tusklike
  adjective
• untusked
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tusks
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of tusk

before 900; Middle English, metathetic variant of tux, Old English, variant of tusc tush ²; cognate with Old Frisian tusk; akin to tooth

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Explanation

A tusk is the long, pointed tooth seen on some animals, such as elephants, walruses, or hogs. Animals that have tusks can use them for protection against predators. Tusk rhymes with dusk. A tusk is a tooth that grows outward from an animal's mouth. How is a tusk different from a fang? Fangs are used to seize prey and bite and tear. Tusks, on the other hand, are used for defense and even as tools for digging or, in the cause of the walrus, for holding steady while on ice.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tusk tusks

During one visit, riders might notice Siegel’s photograph of a mammoth tusk — a fossil uncovered by crews during construction of the station.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026

On a small mammoth carved from tusk, the researchers analysed carefully engraved rows of crosses and dots.

From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2026

Another explorer, Martin Nweeia, a dental surgeon, discovered that a narwhal’s tusk, whose purpose was a mystery to scientists, is actually a sensory rod that helps it measure salinity, temperature and water pressure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025

They might paint an elephant tusk black, or try to make pangolin scales look like candy or chocolate.

From NewsForKids.net ● Nov. 28, 2024

Lit by the pale glow from the nearly full moon, Horn Rock rose like a giant gray tusk from the edge of the bluff and jutted up into the night sky.

From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely

The researchers discerned patterns of meaning in lines, notches, dots, and crosses on objects like mammoth tusks as old as 45,000 years in caves in Germany.

From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2026

The prehistoric species also had a straighter snout and smaller tusks.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 12, 2025

One of the group “plunged her tusks up to the gums in the body of my Land-Rover . . . again she charged, and the Land-Rover was carried backwards at high speed for thirty-five yards.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025

Items stolen from the Oakland museum included Native American baskets, jewelry, laptops, historic photographs and intricately carved ivory tusks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2025

The boar’s tusks were as long as baseball bats and its fur an iridescent blue-black.

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell

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