tusk
[tuhsk]
- (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.
- a long, pointed, or protruding tooth.
- a projection resembling the tusk of an animal.
- Also called gain. Carpentry. a diagonally cut shoulder at the end of a timber for strengthening a tenon.
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- to dig up or tear off with the tusks.
- to gore with a tusk.
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- to dig up or thrust at the ground with the tusks.
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Origin of tusk
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for tusk
Contemporary Examples
In the film world, it was really Kevin Smith who brought Osment back into the fold with Tusk.
Johnny Depp has a pretty sizeable role in Tusk as the Montreal private eye Guy LaPointe.
Kevin Smith's Marijuanaissance: On 'Tusk,' 'Falling Out' with Ben Affleck, and 20 Years of 'Clerks'Marlow Stern
September 9, 2014
The first sequence of the show was set to "Tusk" by Fleetwood Mac.
As a patron of Tusk Trust, a conservation charity, Williamtravelled to Botswana in 2010 to raise awareness of the issue.
The film aims to raise awareness and funds for Tusk Trust, a UK-based conservation charity, of which Prince William is patron.
Historical Examples
When the balance was swung true, he tried to lift a tusk into the scale.
Tales of UnrestJoseph Conrad
How I should like to see the enormous rat that could have carried such a tusk!
The Rambles of a RatA. L. O. E.
Like lightning the hog threw him and then ripped him with his tusk.
Old Rail Fence CornersVarious
As for his face, all tusk and jaw and no brow, where had Parr gotten such an idea of it?
The Devil's AsteroidManly Wade Wellman
Tusk underlies its cloth empurpled by juice of the dye-shell.
The Carmina of Caius Valerius CatullusCaius Valerius Catullus
tusk
- a pointed elongated usually paired tooth in the elephant, walrus, and certain other mammals that is often used for fighting
- the canine tooth of certain animals, esp horses
- a sharp pointed projection
- Also called: tusk tenon building trades a tenon shaped with an additional oblique shoulder to make a stronger joint
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- to stab, tear, or gore with the tusks
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Word Origin
Old English tūsc; related to Old Frisian tosk; see tooth
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for tusk
n.
Old English tux, tusc, cognate with Old Frisian tusk, probably from Proto-Germanic *tunthskaz (cf. Gothic tunþus "tooth"), extended form of the root of tooth. But there are no certain cognates outside Anglo-Frisian.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
tusk
[tŭsk]
- 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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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.