fang
noun /fæŋ/
/fæŋ/
[usually plural]- either of two long sharp teeth at the front of the mouths of some animals, such as a snake or dog
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- The snake sank its fangs into its victim.
- The wolf growled and bared its sharp fangs.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- long
- sharp
- white
- …
- bare
- reveal
- show
- …
Word Originlate Old English (denoting ‘booty’ or ‘spoils’), from Old Norse fang ‘capture, grasp’. A sense ‘trap, snare’ is recorded from the mid 16th cent.; both this and the original sense survive in Scots. The current sense (also mid 16th cent.) reflects the same idea of ‘something that catches and holds’.