Fang

¹ 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.

---

fang ² American  

[fang] / fæŋ /

verb (used with object)

British Dialect.

1. to seize; grab.

---

fang ³ 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.

---

fang ¹ British  

/ fæŋ /

verb

1. to drive at great speed

---

noun

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

   we took the car for a fang

Fang ² 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

---

fang ³ 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

---

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.

---

Other Word Forms

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

Etymology

Origin of fang¹

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

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

Example Sentences

A slender red tongue flickered over the tiny fangs, reminding Jeremy of the lightning that had split the sky earlier that night.

From Literature

Devendra, who was a farmer in India, still remembers the moment a snake sank its fangs into his leg while he was picking mulberry leaves.

From BBC

To me, a Midwestern kid familiar with winter winds dragging their fangs across her face, Mary’s upright spine and sure gait set an example worth heeding.

From Salon

"This is the spider's most vulnerable region since other parts have a lot of chitin, which forms an exoskeleton difficult for the mites' fangs to penetrate," the researcher explains.

From Science Daily

The vampire Remmick is more than just an antagonist with fangs.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• fingernail
• paw
• tentacle