Fang Definition

făng

fangs

noun

One of the long, pointed teeth with which meat-eating animals seize and tear their prey; canine tooth.

Webster's New World

One of the long, hollow or grooved teeth through which poisonous snakes inject their venom.

Webster's New World

A long, sharp, pointed tooth, especially a canine tooth.

American Heritage

The root of a tooth.

Webster's New World

The pointed part of something.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

verb

(dialectal or archaic) To catch, capture; seize; grip; clutch; lay hold of.

Wiktionary

(dialectal) To receive or adopt into spiritual relation, as in baptism; be godfather or godmother to.

Wiktionary

(rare) To strike or attack with the fangs.

Wiktionary

To enable to catch or tear; to furnish with fangs.

Wiktionary

pronoun

(collective) A people of western Africa.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Fang

Noun

Singular:

fang

Plural:

fangs

Origin of Fang

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”).

From Wiktionary
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”).

From Wiktionary
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.

From Wiktionary
Middle English booty, spoils, something seized from Old English pag- in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition