teeth

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.

noun

1. plural of tooth

noun

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.

verb

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