tooth

/tuθ/

/tuθ/

Other forms: teeth; tooths

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.

Definitions of tooth

1. noun

   hard bonelike structures in the jaws of vertebrates; used for biting and chewing or for attack and defense
   types:

   fang

   hollow or grooved tooth of a venomous snake; used to inject its poison

   tusk

   a long pointed tooth specialized for fighting or digging; especially in an elephant or walrus or hog

   conodont

   the tiny fossil cone-shaped tooth of a primitive vertebrate of order Conodonta

   chopper, pearly

   informal terms for a human `tooth'

   carnassial tooth

   the last upper premolar and first lower molar teeth of a carnivore; having sharp edges for cutting flesh

   anterior, front tooth

   a tooth situated at the front of the mouth

   back tooth, posterior

   a tooth situated at the back of the mouth

   malposed tooth

   a tooth that has grown in a faulty position

   adult tooth, permanent tooth

   any of the 32 teeth that replace the deciduous teeth of early childhood and (with luck) can last until old age

   baby tooth, deciduous tooth, milk tooth, primary tooth

   one of the first temporary teeth of a young mammal (one of 20 in children)

   canine, canine tooth, cuspid, dogtooth, eye tooth, eyetooth

   one of the four pointed conical teeth (two in each jaw) located between the incisors and the premolars

   bicuspid, premolar

   a tooth having two cusps or points; located between the incisors and the molars

   incisor

   a tooth for cutting or gnawing; located in the front of the mouth in both jaws

   grinder, molar

   grinding tooth with a broad crown; located behind the premolars

   fang

   canine tooth of a carnivorous animal; used to seize and tear its prey

   bucktooth

   a large projecting front tooth

   wisdom tooth

   any of the last 4 teeth on each side of the upper and lower jaw; the last of the permanent teeth to erupt (between ages 16 and 21)

   type of:

   bone, os

   rigid connective tissue that makes up the skeleton of vertebrates
2. noun

   toothlike structure in invertebrates found in the mouth or alimentary canal or on a shell
   types:

   denticle

   small pointed ridge on the exoskeleton of an arthropod

   type of:

   anatomical structure, bodily structure, body structure, complex body part, structure

   a particular complex anatomical part of a living thing
3. noun

   something resembling the tooth of an animal
   types:

   cog, sprocket

   tooth on the rim of gear wheel

   type of:

   projection

   any structure that branches out from a central support
4. noun

   one of a number of uniform projections on a gear
   type of:

   projection

   any structure that branches out from a central support
5. noun

   a means of enforcement
   “the treaty had no teeth in it”

   type of:

   agency, means, way

   how a result is obtained or an end is achieved