fang

[fang]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR fang ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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

a canine tooth.

a tooth resembling a dog's.

the root of a tooth.

one of the chelicerae of a spider.

a pointed, tapering part of a thing.

Machinery. the tang of a tool.

Origin of fang

before 1050; Middle English, Old English: something caught; cognate with German Fang capture, booty, Old Norse fang a grasp, hold. See fang²

Related formsfanged

[fangd] /fæŋd/, adjectivefang·less, adjectivefang·like, adjectiveun·fanged, adjective

fang

[fang]

verb (used with object) British Dialect.

to seize; grab.

Origin of fang

before 900; Middle English fangen to seize, catch; cognate with Old Saxon fangan, German fangen, variant of proto-Germanic *fanhan-, whence Old English fōn, cognate with Old Saxon, Old High German, Gothic fāhan, Old Norse fā; akin to Old English gefangian to fasten

Fang

[fang, fahng, fahn]

noun, plural Fangs, (especially collectively) Fang for 1.

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

the Bantu language spoken by this people.

Also Fan.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for fang

ivory, tentacle, paw, fingernail, prong, tooth, fangs, snag, tush, tusk, molar, premolar, cuspid, bicuspid, incisor, eyetooth, bridgework, ivories, dentition

Examples from the Web for fang

Contemporary Examples of fang

But, as Fang continued, the administration quickly evolved away from that position.
Lobbyist Derangement Syndrome Sweeps DC
James Poulos
August 8, 2014
The last several years I called my ex-husbands “Fang” on stage, too.
Roseanne Barr Hails the Comedic Genius of Phyllis Diller
Roseanne Barr
August 21, 2012
In 1989, Fang Lizhi wrote an open letter to Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping demanding the release of political prisoners.
Julian Assange, Chen Guangcheng & More Famous Embassy Stays (Photos)
August 17, 2012
Fang sought refuge along with his family at the U.S. embassy and President George H.W. Bush agreed to grant him asylum.
Julian Assange, Chen Guangcheng & More Famous Embassy Stays (Photos)
August 17, 2012
Fang became a professor at the University of Arizona, where he taught until his death in 2012.
Julian Assange, Chen Guangcheng & More Famous Embassy Stays (Photos)
August 17, 2012

Historical Examples of fang

First he has to be broken in, to learn "the law of club and fang."
A Forest Hearth: A Romance of Indiana in the Thirties
Charles Major
"It's a wise fellow who wrenches forth the serpent's fang," shouted he.
Harper's Young People, August 24, 1880
Various
By this time tomorrow, I hope that we will be forever done with the law of claw and fang.
The Galaxy Primes
Edward Elmer Smith
She's done for at lasht—an' blade to fang, in open foight ye've knoifed her!
The Promise
James B. Hendryx
They were savages, all of them, who knew no law but the law of club and fang.
The Call of the Wild
Jack London

British Dictionary definitions for fang

fang

noun

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

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

the root of a tooth

(usually plural) British informal toothclean your fangs

Derived Formsfanged, adjectivefangless, adjectivefanglike, adjective

Word Origin for fang

Old English fang what is caught, prey; related to Old Norse fang a grip, German Fang booty

fang

verb (intr)

to drive at great speed

noun

an act or instance of driving in such a waywe took the car for a fang

Word Origin for fang

C20: from Juan Manuel Fangio

Fang

noun

plural Fangs or Fang 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

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

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

Word Origin and History for fang

Old English fang "prey, spoils, plunder, booty; a seizing or taking," from gefangen, past participle of fon "seize, take, capture," from Proto-Germanic *fango- (cf. Old Frisian fangia, Middle Dutch and Dutch vangen, Old Norse fanga, German fangen, Gothic fahan), from PIE root *pag- "to make firm, fix;" connected to Latin pax (genitive pacis) "peace" (see pact).

The sense of "canine tooth" (1550s) probably developed from Old English fengtoð, literally "catching- or grasping-tooth." Transferred to the venom tooth of a serpent, etc., by 1800.

fang in Science

fang

[făng]

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.