dogtooth

[dawg-tooth, dog-]

noun

Also dog tooth. a canine tooth.
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.

Origin of dogtooth

First recorded in 1545–55; dog + tooth

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for dogtooth

Contemporary Examples of dogtooth

Case in point: The Greek film Dogtooth is one of this year's five nominees for best foreign film.
The Oscars' Foreign Language Flop
Stephen Farber
February 22, 2011
But the Academy is not really helping the cause by nominating audience-unfriendly films like Dogtooth.
The Oscars' Foreign Language Flop
Stephen Farber
February 22, 2011
A dozen movies far superior to Dogtooth or Outside the Law were bewilderingly overlooked.
The Oscars' Foreign Language Flop
Stephen Farber
February 22, 2011
Who are these experts who justify the inclusion of Dogtooth?
The Oscars' Foreign Language Flop
Stephen Farber
February 22, 2011

Historical Examples of dogtooth

A dogtooth violet, commonly called avalanche lily, is abundant.
Your National Parks
Enos A. Mills
The sub-arches appear to be about the same date as the transept vaulting, as they have the dogtooth ornament in their mouldings.
Bell's Cathedrals: Chichester (1901)
Hubert C. Corlette
Hollows of irregular curve sometimes filled with dogtooth ornament or with foliage.
Architecture
Thomas Roger Smith
Nearly all are highly 45enriched with dogtooth; while the mouldings of the west door have conventional foliage as well.
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Ely
W. D. Sweeting
Contemplative between their dark exotic leaves, dogtooth violets fill the light-flecked hollows.
Minstrel Weather
Marian Storm

British Dictionary definitions for dogtooth

dogtooth

noun plural -teeth

another name for a canine (def. 3)
architect a carved ornament in the form of four leaflike projections radiating from a raised centre, used in England in the 13th century

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012