teeth

English

Etymology

From Middle English teth, plural of tothe, from Old English tēþ, nominative plural of tōþ, from earlier *tœ̄þ, from Proto-Germanic *tanþiz, nominative plural of *tanþs, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dóntes, nominative plural of *h₃dónts.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tiːθ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːθ

Noun

teeth

1. plural of tooth

Noun

teeth pl (plural only)

1. (informal) The ability to be enforced, or to be enforced to any useful effect.

   The international community's sanctions against the regime had some teeth to them this time around.

Synonyms

• (plural of "tooth"): chompers, pearly whites, Hampstead Heath
• (ability to be enforced): enforceability

Derived terms

• arm to the teeth
• bare one's teeth
• better than a kick in the teeth
• bit between one's teeth
• bone in her teeth
• British teeth
• brush one's teeth
• by God's teeth
• by the skin of one's teeth
• cast in someone's teeth
• cast something in someone's teeth
• cut one's teeth
• dragon's teeth
• elephant's teeth
• false teeth
• fed up to the back teeth
• fed up to the teeth
• front teeth
• get one's teeth into / sink one's teeth into
• give one's eye-teeth
• gnash one's teeth
• God's teeth
• grit one's teeth
• hell's teeth
• in spite of someone's teeth
• in the teeth of
• kick in the teeth
• kiss one's teeth
• lie through one's teeth
• make someone's teeth itch
• my back teeth are floating
• no skin off one's teeth
• one's teeth water
• pull teeth
• rare as hen's teeth
• rarer than hen's teeth
• rarer than hens' teeth
• scarce as hen's teeth
• set one's teeth on edge
• set someone's teeth on edge
• show one's teeth
• sick to the back teeth
• sink one's teeth in
• skin of the teeth
• sow dragon's teeth
• suck one's teeth
• summerteeth
• summer teeth
• teeth arm
• teeth-baring
• teeth-less
• teeth mark
• teeth-to-tail ratio
• the wolf may lose his teeth but never his nature
• throw something in someone's teeth
• Turkey teeth
• weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth
• with the skin of one's teeth

 

Verb

teeth (third-person singular simple present teeths, present participle teething, simple past and past participle teethed)

1. Dated spelling of teethe (“to grow teeth”).
   • 1943, Herman Niels Bundesen, Our Babies, page 81:

     Thus, a mother should not think that there is something wrong just because her baby teeths, crawls, walks, or talks earlier or later than her neighbor's baby.

See also

• toothless