toothly

English

Etymology

From tooth +‎ -ly. Compare toothlike, teethlike, toothily.

Adjective

toothly (comparative toothlier or more toothly, superlative toothliest or most toothly)

1. Of or pertaining to teeth; dental.
   • 1907, The Bay State monthly:

     For, firstly, the membership of these societies is limited; arid "toothly," as the colored preacher said, one blackball will keep out any one.

   • 1998, Sheila De La Rosa, The Encyclopedia of Weird:

     Peter stored his toothly treasures in a beautiful wooden case. Each tooth was secured to its own little compartment with a gray silk ribbon looped around it.

2. Toothy.
   • 1997, Kalpana Swaminathan, Cryptic death and other stories:

     'I see you're admiring our decor,' the man said with a toothly smile, and Paresh noticed that his canines bit wolfishly into his thick mulberry lip.

   • 2010, Robert Crudup, Malachi Moon: Journey of a Bluesman:

     She returned a toothly grin that displayed her deep, pretty dimples.

Translations

of or pertaining to teeth

• Finnish: hammas- (fi)

toothy

• Finnish: leveä (fi) (of smile, grin etc.)

Adverb

toothly (comparative toothlier or more toothly, superlative toothliest or most toothly)

1. In a manner regarding teeth; dentally.
   • 1934, Popular science talks: Volume 12:

     Toothly speaking then — it pays to stay savage. There is evidence too, that civilizations long before ours felt the stress of dental cares.

Synonyms

• teethly