teeth

Formsteeths, teething, teethed

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of tooth.

   Years of drinking coffee had stained his teeth.

   The toddler lost two of her baby teeth this week.

   Note

   An old plural made by changing the vowel rather than adding -s: Old English tōþ became tēþ, just as foot became feet and goose became geese. The plural covers every kind of tooth, so a saw, a gear and a leaf's edge all have teeth too. Its jokier stand-ins, such as pearly whites, chompers and the rhyming slang Hampstead Heath, refer only to the ones in your mouth.

2. 2
   nouncolloquialuncountableplural

   The power of a rule, law, or agreement to be enforced effectively.

   Like a fence with an electric wire: not just for show, with real consequences for crossing it.

   Critics argued the treaty lacked teeth, since no penalties applied to violations.

   The agency finally gained some teeth when Congress let it issue fines.

   Similarenforceability

   Note

   A metaphor of bite: a law with teeth can actually hurt those who break it. It is always plural, since a rule never has a single tooth. It usually follows have, lack or give: sanctions have some teeth to them, and a reform gives a regulator teeth. The word is informal; a formal report would say enforceability instead.

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To grow teeth, especially of an infant whose first teeth are pushing through the gums; a dated spelling of "teethe".

   Most children begin to teeth before their first birthday, drooling and chewing constantly.

   The puppy will teeth for several weeks, so give it something safe to chew.

   Note

   Herman Niels Bundesen still spells it this way in Our Babies (1943), where a baby "teeths, crawls, walks, or talks." The two spellings differ only in the bare form and in teeths; teething and teethed are identical either way. Modern usage prefers teethe, which keeps the verb visibly apart from the plural noun.

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