Verb (third-person singular simple present fangs, present participle fanging, simple past and past participle fanged)
- (dialectal or archaic) To catch, capture; seize; grip; clutch; lay hold of.
- (dialectal) To receive or adopt into spiritual relation, as in baptism; be godfather or godmother to.
Origin From Middle English fangen, from Old English fōn (“to take, grasp, seize, catch, capture, make prisoner, receive, accept, assume, undertake, meet with, encounter”), and Old Norse fanga (“to fetch, capture”), both from Proto-Germanic *fanhaną, *fangōną (“to catch, capture”), from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂ḱ- (“to fasten, place”). Cognate with West Frisian fange (“to catch”), Dutch vangen (“to catch”), German fangen (“to catch”), Danish fange (“to catch”), Albanian peng (“to hinder, hold captive”).
Noun (plural fangs)
- (Now chiefly dialetal, Scotland) A grasping; capture; the act or power of seizing; hold.
- That which is seized or carried off; booty; spoils; stolen goods.
- Any projection, catch, shoot, or other thing by which hold is taken; a prehensile part or organ.
- (mining) A channel cut in the rock, or a pipe of wood, used for conveying air.
- (rare, in the plural) Cage-shuts.
- (dialectal) The coil or bend of a rope; (by extension) a noose; a trap.
Origin From Middle English fang, feng (“a catching, capture, seizing”), from Old English fang, feng (“grip, embrace, grasp, grasping, capture, prey, booty, plunder”), from Proto-Germanic *fangą, *fangiz, *fanhiz (“catch, catching, seizure”), from *fanhaną (“to catch, capture”), from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂ǵ- (“to fasten”). Cognate with Scots fang (“that which is taken, capture, catch, prey, booty”), Dutch vang (“a catch”), Low German fangst (“a catch”), German Fang (“a catch, capture, booty”), Swedish fång, fångst, Icelandic fang. Related also to Latin pangere (“to solidify, drive in”), Albanian mpij (“to benumb, stiffen”), Ancient Greek πήγνυμι (pḗgnumi, “to stiffen, firm up”), Sanskrit पाशयति (pāśáyati, “(s)he binds”).
Noun (plural fangs)
- a long, pointed canine tooth used for biting and tearing flesh
- (in snakes) a long pointed tooth for injecting venom
Verb (third-person singular simple present fangs, present participle fanging, simple past and past participle fanged)
- (rare) To strike or attack with the fangs.
- To enable to catch or tear; to furnish with fangs.
Origin From an abbreviation of fangtooth, from Middle English *fangtooth, *fengtooth, from Old English fængtōþ, fengtōþ (“canine tooth”, literally “catch-tooth”). Cognate with German Fangzahn (“fang”, literally “catch-tooth”) and Dutch vangtand.
Proper noun - (collective) A people of western Africa.
- The Bantu language of these people, also called Pahouin
- A second, only distantly related language of Africa
