tusk

Meanings

Noun

• One of a pair of elongated pointed teeth that extend outside the mouth of an animal such as walrus, elephant or wild boar, and which continue to grow throughout the animal's life.
• A small projection on a (tusk) tenon.
• A tusk shell.
• A projecting member like a tenon, and serving the same or a similar purpose, but composed of several steps, or offsets, called teeth.
• A sharp point.
• The share of a plough.
• A fish, the torsk (Brosme brosme (species)).

Verb

• To dig up using a tusk, as boars do.
• To gore with the tusks.
• To bare or gnash the teeth.

Origin

• From Middle English tusk (also tux, tusch), from Old English tūx, tūsċ, from Proto-West Germanic *tų̄sk, *tunsk, from Proto-Germanic *tunþskaz, extended form of *tanþs, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dónts. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tusk ("tooth"), West Frisian tosk ("tooth"), Icelandic toskur ("a tusk, tooth") (whence the Old Norse and Icelandic Ratatoskr and Ratatoskur respectively), Gothic 𐍄𐌿𐌽𐌸𐌿𐍃 ("tooth") and *𐍄𐌿𐌽𐌳𐌹. tush. More at tooth.