teeth

Cowslip and shad-blow, flaked like tethered foam Around bared teeth of stallions, bloomed that spring When first I read thy lines, rife as the loam Of prairies, yet like breakers cliffward leaping!

—Crane, (Harold) Hart

Faster and faster it rolled, with me running after it bent low, gritting my teeth, and I found myself doubled over and rolling down the street head over heels, one complete somersault after another like a bagel and strangely happy with myself.

—Ignatow, David

This man,Comrades, has a nice smile, but he has iron teeth.

—Griswold, Alfred Whitney

The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.

—Bible (Old Testament)

For the first twenty years you are still growing, Bodily that is; as a poet, of course, You are not born yet. It's the next ten You cut your teeth on to emerge smirking For your brash courtship of the muse.

—Thomas, R(onald) S(tuart)

   'Girl number twenty unable to define a horse!'said Mr Gradgrind† 'Girl number twenty possessed of no facts, in reference to one of the commonest of animals!'† 'Bitzer'said Thomas Gradgrind.'Your definition of a horse.' 'Quadruped.Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four grinders, four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the spring; in marshy countries, sheds hoofs, too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to be shod with iron. Age known by marks in mouth.' Thus (and much more) Bitzer. 'Now girl number twenty,'said Mr Gradgrind.'You know what a horse is.'

—Dickens, CharlesJohn Huffam

He was a practical electrician but fond of whisky, a heavy, red-haired brute with irregular teeth.He doubted the existence of the Deity but accepted Carnot's cycle, and he had read Shakespeare and found him weak in chemistry.

—Wells, H(erbert) G(eorge)

Notice the smug suppressions of his face. In his mouth are Lies in the shape of false teeth.

—Wells, H(erbert) G(eorge)

And what can we expect if we haven't any dinner, But to lose our teeth and eyelashes and keep on growing thinner?

—Lear, Edward

There died a myriad, And of the best, among them, For an old bitch gone in the teeth, For a botched civilization.

—Pound, Ezra Loomis

The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protuded over the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his years.

—Stoker, Bram

We of the long tails! We of the presentient whiskers! We of the perpetually growing teeth! We, the serried footnotes to man, his proliferating commentary.We, indestructible!

—Grass, Gu«  nter Wilhelm

For years I have let dentists ride roughshod over my teeth; I have been sawed, hacked, chopped, whittled, bewitched, bewildered, tattooed, and signed on again; but this is cuspid's last stand.

—Perelman, S(ydney) J(oseph)

   Und der Haifisch, der hat Z a« hne Und die tr a« gt er im Gesicht Und Macheath, der hat ein Messer Doch das Messer sieht man nicht. Oh, the shark has pretty teeth, dear, And he shows them pearly white. Just a jack-knife has Macheath, dear, And he keeps it out of sight.

—Brecht, Bertolt Eugen Friedrich

I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

—Bible (Old Testament)

You ought to take the bull between the teeth.

—Goldwyn, Sam(uel) originally  Schmuel Gelbfisz

   Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves'eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead. Thy teeth are like a flockof sheep that are evenshorn, whichcameup from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them. Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks. Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men. Thy two breasts are liketwo young roesthat aretwins, which feed among the lilies.Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and tothehill of frankincense.Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Timothy Winters comes to school With eyes as wide as a football pool, Ears like bombs and teeth like splinters: A blitz of a boy isTimothy Winters.

—Causley, Charles

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.

—Nabokov,Vladimir

Proves she like some portent of an iceberg Swimming full upon the ship it founders Hungry with huge teeth of splintered crystals?

—Browning, Robert

'You are snatching a hard guy when you snatch Bookie Bob. Avery hard guy, indeed. In fact,' I say,'I hear the softest thing about him is his front teeth.'

—Runyon, (Alfred) Damon

Battle, n. A method of untying with the teeth a political knot that would not yield to the tongue.

—Bierce, Ambrose Gwinett

But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

—Bible (NewTestament)

For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

—Bible (NewTestament)

Writers, liketeeth, are divided into incisors and grinders.

—Bagehot,Walter