tusk Hear it!

tusk definition

tusk (tusk)

noun

  1. in elephants, wild boars, walruses, etc., a very long, large, pointed tooth, usually one of a pair, projecting outside the mouth and used for defense, digging up food, etc.
  2. any tooth or projection suggestive of a tusk

Etymology: ME, by metathesis < OE tucs, akin to OFris tusk < PGmc *tunth-ska < *tunth-, *tanth-: see tooth

transitive verb

to dig, gore, etc. with a tusk or tusks

Related Forms:

  • tusked (tuskt) adjective
  • tusklike tusk′·like′ (-līk′) adjective

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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