tooth

American  

[tooth] / tuθ /

noun

• teeth
  plural

1. (in most vertebrates) one of the hard bodies or processes usually attached in a row to each jaw, serving for the prehension and mastication of food, as weapons of attack or defense, etc., and in mammals typically composed chiefly of dentin surrounding a sensitive pulp and covered on the crown with enamel.

2. (in invertebrates) any of various similar or analogous processes occurring in the mouth or alimentary canal, or on a shell.

3. any projection resembling or suggesting a tooth.

4. one of the projections of a comb, rake, saw, etc.

5. Machinery.

   1. any of the uniform projections on a gear or rack by which it drives, or is driven by, a gear, rack, or worm.

   2. any of the uniform projections on a sprocket by which it drives or is driven by a chain.

6. Botany.

   1. any small, toothlike marginal lobe.

   2. one of the toothlike divisions of the peristome of mosses.

7. a sharp, distressing, or destructive attribute or agency.

8. taste, relish, or liking.

   Synonyms:

   predilection, partiality, fondness

9. a surface, as on a grinding wheel or sharpening stone, slightly roughened so as to increase friction with another part.

10. a rough surface created on a paper made for charcoal drawing, watercolor, or the like, or on canvas for oil painting.

---

verb (used with object)

toothed, toothing

1. to furnish with teeth.

2. to cut teeth upon.

verb (used without object)

toothed, toothing

1. to interlock, as cogwheels.

idioms

1. by the skin of one's teeth, barely.

   He got away by the skin of his teeth.

2. show one's teeth, to become hostile or threatening; exhibit anger.

   Usually friendly, she suddenly began to show her teeth.

3. set / put one's teeth on edge,

   1. to induce an unpleasant sensation.

   2. to repel; irritate.

      The noise of the machines sets my teeth on edge.

4. long in the tooth, old; elderly.

5. cast / throw in someone's teeth, to reproach someone for (an action).

   History will ever throw this blunder in his teeth.

6. to the teeth, entirely; fully.

   armed to the teeth; dressed to the teeth in furs.

7. cut one's teeth on, to do at the beginning of one's education, career, etc., or in one's youth.

   The hunter boasted of having cut his teeth on tigers.

8. in the teeth of,

   1. so as to face or confront; straight into or against.

      in the teeth of the wind.

   2. in defiance of; in opposition to.

      She maintained her stand in the teeth of public opinion.

9. set one's teeth, to become resolute; prepare for difficulty.

   He set his teeth and separated the combatants.

10. put teeth in / into, to establish or increase the effectiveness of.

    to put teeth into the law.

tooth British  

/ tuːθ /

noun

1. any of various bonelike structures set in the jaws of most vertebrates and modified, according to the species, for biting, tearing, or chewing

2. any of various similar structures in invertebrates, occurring in the mouth or alimentary canal

3. anything resembling a tooth in shape, prominence, or function

   the tooth of a comb

4. any of the various small indentations occurring on the margin of a leaf, petal, etc

5. any one of a number of uniform projections on a gear, sprocket, rack, etc, by which drive is transmitted

6. taste or appetite (esp in the phrase sweet tooth )

7. old or ageing: used originally of horses, because their gums recede with age

8. with ferocity and force

   we fought tooth and nail

---

verb

1. (tr) to provide with a tooth or teeth

2. (intr) (of two gearwheels) to engage

tooth Scientific  

/ to̅o̅th /

• teeth
  plural

1. Any of the hard bony structures in the mouth used to grasp and chew food and as weapons of attack and defense. In mammals and many other vertebrates, the teeth are set in sockets in the jaw. In fish and amphibians, they grow in and around the palate.

2. See also dentition

3. A similar structure in certain invertebrate animals.

---

tooth Cultural  

1. A hard structure, embedded in the jaws of the mouth, that functions in chewing. The tooth consists of a crown, covered with hard white enamel; a root, which anchors the tooth to the jawbone; and a “neck” between the crown and the root, covered by the gum. Most of the tooth is made up of dentin, which is located directly below the enamel. The soft interior of the tooth, the pulp, contains nerves and blood vessels. Humans have molars for grinding food, incisors for cutting, and canines and bicuspids for tearing.

---

tooth More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing tooth

• fight tooth and nail
• fine-tooth comb
• long in the tooth
• sweet tooth
• teeth

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• toothless
  adjective
• toothlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• teeth
  plural

Etymology

Origin of tooth

before 900; Middle English; Old English tōth; cognate with Dutch tand, German Zahn, Old Norse tǫnn; akin to Gothic tunthus, Latin dēns, Greek odoús (Ionic odṓn ), Sanskrit dánta

Explanation

Each of the hard, bone-like things in your mouth, the ones you use for chewing food, is called a tooth. When you lost your first tooth, you probably put it under your pillow in the hopes that the Tooth Fairy would come and leave you a surprise. Teeth are as hard as bone, but they're actually made of layers of very dense tissue, with enamel on the outside. Humans lose their original set of teeth when they're children, growing new ones to replace them, while sharks grow an entirely new set every two weeks. Something is also called a tooth when it resembles animal teeth, like the teeth of a saw or a gear. When you fight tooth and nail, you fight fiercely.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tooth teeth toothed toothing

Agnew mailed Merriam a single tooth, but the bearskin had already been sent to someone in Korea.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

Some investors are worried that this artificial-intelligence-powered bull market might be getting a little long in the tooth as it approaches its fourth birthday.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026

If China does invade, Lin says he would “fight tooth and nail” to defend the island.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

Identifying genuine tooth marks is not always straightforward.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026

Then she’d put the stone tooth inside, and tied it up with locks of her own and Torak’s hair.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

“And when he looked, he saw the teeth and everything.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

Potential human remains, including a jaw with teeth still attached, have been recovered from the largest reservoir in the US, officials said, as an ongoing drought causes water levels to drop across western states.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

Yet some feel that anything that relies on an honor system lacks the teeth necessary to combat such a far-reaching issue.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

He’d sometimes entertain colleagues by pulling out a bridge that covers his missing front teeth.

From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026

Two scurried to the top of the garbage pile and used her teeth to draw open a silk bag.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

Those predators included anacondas, saber toothed mammals, flightless "terror birds" and sebecids, a group of land dwelling relatives of crocodylians.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026

The inspectors also reported crews spraying contaminated pool water onto neighboring properties and into storm drains, and excavator operators using toothed buckets that caused clean and contaminated soil to be commingled.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 29, 2025

During opening weekend on March 16, the museum was a hive of freckles and gap toothed grins, with visitors ranging in age from newborn to well seasoned.

From New York Times ● Apr. 1, 2024

As the study authors explain, baleen whales and their toothed whale cousins could not survive with the larynxes from their land mammal ancestors.

From Salon ● Feb. 23, 2024

His projects conduct electricity, engage motion with toothed wheels, react in concert with universal laws of physics.

From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García

It frequently happens, that during Dentition, or the Time of their toothing, Children prove subject to Knots or Kernels.

From Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health by S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David) Tissot

Then comes a softening process to prepare the files for the men who grind or file them to a true form, and for toothing.

From A Month in Yorkshire by Walter White

The strange feature in this case is the zig-zag "toothing" which is employed to represent the jaws.

From In Search of Gravestones Old and Curious by W.T. (William Thomas) Vincent

The depth of the toothing is 18 mm.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 441, June 14, 1884. by Various

Broad surfaces of close-grained hardwood having a shiny surface are usually carefully roughened with a fine toothing plane blade previous to glueing.

From Woodwork Joints How they are Set Out, How Made and Where Used. by William Fairham