toothed

1. 1
   adjective

   Having teeth, especially as a natural feature of an animal's mouth.

   Sharks are famously toothed, with rows of replacements waiting behind the front set.

   The newly described reptile was strongly toothed along the entire jaw margin.

   Oppositetoothless

   Note

   Built the way bearded and horned are built: the noun tooth plus -ed, meaning 'having teeth'. Its most familiar home is classification, where it sorts animals into kinds, as in calling the sperm whale a toothed whale. In that use it does not take more or most, because an animal either belongs to the toothed group or it does not.

2. 2
   adjective

   Having projections that resemble the teeth of an animal.

   Like a gear wheel, whose rim is lined with regular tooth-like points.

   The toothed edge of the saw cut cleanly through the plank.

   Each fern frond was finely toothed where the leaflets met the stem.

   Similarserrated, jagged, notched, dentate

   Oppositesmooth

3. 3
   adjectivein compounds

   Having teeth of the type indicated by a preceding descriptive word.

   The gear was finely toothed to mesh smoothly with its partner.

   The sharp-toothed predator could tear through hide in seconds.

   Note

   The second half of a family of compound adjectives, such as sharp-toothed and fine-toothed. The first element names the kind of teeth, and the pair is hyphenated before a noun, as in a fine-toothed comb or a sharp-toothed rat. An adverb in -ly behaves differently: finely toothed stays two words, because finely modifies toothed rather than fusing with it.

4. 4
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of tooth.

   The machinist toothed the replacement gear to match the original.

   Craftsmen toothed the edges of the comb with great care.

   Note

   The verb tooth is regular, so one form serves as both past tense and participle: the machinist toothed the gear, and the gear had been toothed. Its meanings run from furnishing an edge with teeth, to jagging it, to interlocking like gear wheels. After be it can look like the adjective for tooth-like projections. A by-phrase or a time reference, as in was toothed by hand last week, marks the verb.

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