Fwd: "fang" - Word of the Day from the OED

[Dave Monroe]

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Subject: "fang" - Word of the Day from the OED
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OED Online Word of the Day

fang, n.

SECOND EDITION 1989

(fæ)  Also 7 phang(e. [OE. fang, cogn. with OFris. fang m., ON. fang
n., MHG. fang, vanc m., repr. OTeut. *fango-, f. root of *fanhan (see
FANG v.).]

    I. The act or fact of catching or seizing.

    1.    a. A capture, catch. Also a tight grasp, a grip. in fang
with: in the embrace, under the protection of. (Cf. ON. í fang, in
one's arms.)

a1400-50 Alexander 1725 In fang with my faire godis. c1470 HENRY
Wallace XI. 1219 King Eduuard was rycht fayn off that fang. 1597 J.
PAYNE Royal Exch. 41 Whome he once gettethe with full fange into his
gripinge clowches he howldeth faster than catt the mowce. 1600 SHAKES.
A.Y.L. II. i. 6 The Icie phange And churlish chiding of the winters
winde.

    b. Sc. In phrase to lose the fang: 'to miss one's aim, to fail in
an attempt' (Jam.). Also of a pump (see quot.).

1825 JAMIESON Suppl. I. s.v., A pump well is said to lose the fang
when the water quits the pump.

    2. concr. That which is caught or taken; captured game; booty,
plunder, spoils (obs. exc. Sc.). Hence, in Sc. Law of a thief: caught,
taken with the fang.

1016 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.), [Hi] fang woldon fon. a1300 Cursor M.
3728 (Cott.) Was ou not at me right now, And fedd me wit i fang i
trau? Ibid. 15434 (Cott.) Quen..Iudas us receiued had his fang. c1340
Ibid. 4801 (Fairf.) Quen e fondyn haue our fange. 1609 SKENE Reg. Maj.
71 Gif ane man apprehends in his house ane theif, with the fang of the
thift. 1728 Biggar Council Proceedings, The fangs (plunder) being
found in his house. 1790 MORRISON Poems 110 Snap went the sheers, then
in a wink, The fang was stow'd behind a bink.

    II. An instrument for catching or holding.

    3. A noose, trap. In quots. fig. Obs.

1535 STEWART Cron. Scot. I. 470 The Britis fled, and wes fane of that
fang To leif the Romanis in the thickest thrang. 1794 Piper of Peebles
277 The Laird was fairly in a fang, An' naething for him now but hang.

    4. a. A canine tooth; a tusk. In pl. applied gen. to the teeth of
dogs, wolves, or other animals remarkable for strength of jaw.

1555 EDEN Decades 187 Theyr fanges or dogge teeth. 1613 HEYWOOD Silver
Age III. 157 These phangs shall gnaw vpon your cruded bones. a1700
DRYDEN Ovid VIII. 535 The fatal Fang drove deep within his Thigh.
a1771 GRAY Poems, Descent of Odin 10 Eyes that glow, and fangs that
grin. 1808 Med. Jrnl. XIX. 58 This is done by inserting his [a
leech's] three fangs into the skin. 1867 EMERSON May Day, etc. Wks.
(Bohn) III. 439 Wolves shed their fangs.
fig. 1601 SHAKES. Twel. N. I. v. 196 By the verie phangs of malice, I
sweare I am not that I play. a1633 AUSTIN Medit. (1635) 191 Fast in
the Iron fangs of that Foxe Herod. 1794 FOX Sp. 21 Jan. Wks. 1815 V.
159 The relentless fangs of despotism. 1827 HALLAM Const. Hist. (1876)
I. i. 28 Sufficient to bring him within the fangs of the recent
statute. 1867 TROLLOPE Chron. Barset II. lii. 89 Having strong
hopes..that Grace's father might escape the fangs of justice.

    b. In various transferred uses: (see quots.).

1694 Acc. Sev. Late Voy. II. (1711) 123 The Phangs of a Tooth-drawer.
1776 MICKLE tr. Camoens' Lusiad VII. 282 The anchor's moony fangs.
1789 Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts VII. 193 The fangs on the fliers are
alternately driven. a1825 FORBY Voc. E. Anglia, Fang, a fin. From the
fancied resemblance of their pointed ends to long teeth. 1853 KANE
Grinnell Exp. xlvi. (1856) 423 The water-line was toothed with fangs
of broken ice. 1878 BROWNING La Saisiaz 14 Fangs of crystal set on
edge in his demesne.

    c. pl. The mandibles of an insect. Obs.

1609 C. BUTLER Fem. Mon. (1634) 102 The matter thereof [of wax] they
gather from flowers with their Fangs. 1713 J. WARDER True Amazons (ed.
2) 3 Her [a Bee's] Fangs, or Mouth, wherein are her Teeth.

    d. The venom-tooth of a serpent; also the claws, provided with
poison-ducts, which terminate the cheliceræ of a spider.

1800 Med. Jrnl. IV. 295 The punctures made by the poisonous fangs were
evident. 1802 PALEY Nat. Theol. xii. §1 The fang of a viper..is a
perforated tooth. 1855 KINGSLEY Heroes II. 206 Where are your spider's
fangs? 1862 DARWIN Fertil. Orchids v. 220 Each horn is tubular, like
an adder's fang. 1875 CAMBRIDGE in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9) II. 294 The
channel [of the poison] running completely through the fang [in a
spider].
fig. 1809-10 COLERIDGE Friend, The serpent fang of this error. 1849
ROBERTSON Serm. Ser. I. xiii. 224 The fang of evil pierces the heel of
the noblest as he treads it down.

    e. colloq. A human tooth. Also Comb. and fig.

1840 DICKENS Old C. Shop iii, The few discoloured fangs gave him the
aspect of a panting dog. 1891 FARMER Slang II. 374/1 Fang-faker, a
dentist. 1919 W. H. DOWNING Digger Dial. 22 'To put in the fangs'to
demand money, etc. 1936 WODEHOUSE Laughing Gas v. 57 Possibly because
they were old dental college chums,..these two fang-wrenchers shared a
common waiting-room. 1943 HUNT & PRINGLE Service Slang 31 Fang
farrier, dentist. 1957 'N. CULOTTA' They're Weird Mob (1958) viii. 109
Jimmy got himself some bread and butter and an open tin of jam. 'Yer
good on the fang, mate,' said Joe.

    5.    a. A claw or talon. Obs.
  Although this sense would appear on etymological grounds likely to
have existed, it seems to rest solely on the authority of the Dicts.
Possibly it may have been wrongly inferred from figurative
applications of sense 4, in which the pl. is often equivalent to
'clutches', 'grasp', with little or no conscious allusion to the
literal use.

1731 J. K. New Eng. Dict. (ed. 3), Fang, a claw. 1749 B. MARTIN,
Fangs, claws. 1755 JOHNSON, Fang, the nails, the talons.

    b. (See quot.)

1768 E. BUYS Dict. Terms Art, Fangs, (in Botany) the shoots or
tendrils by means of which one Plant takes hold of another.

    6. The pointed tapering part of anything which is embedded in
something else.    a. A spike; the tang of a tool.

1769 FALCONER Dict. Marine (1776), Dog, a sort of iron hook, or bar,
with a sharp fang at one end, so formed as to be easily driven into a
plank. 1823 P. NICHOLSON Pract. Build. 222 Fang, the narrow part of
the iron of any instrument which passes into the stock. 1887 S.
Cheshire Gloss., Fang, a prong, e.g. a yelve-fang.

    b. The root of a tooth; one of the prongs into which this divides.

1666 Phil. Trans. I. 381 That Tooth..which had not a phang like other
Cutters. 1803 Med. Jrnl. X. 365 If the fangs were capable of an
increase by the ossific inflammation. 1872 HUXLEY Phys. vi. 142 One or
more fangs which are embedded in sockets.

    c. A prong of a divided root. Obs.

1664 EVELYN Kal. Hort. (1729) 200 Take out your Indian Tuberoses,
parting the Off-sets (but with care, lest you break their Fangs). 1727
BRADLEY Fam. Dict. s.v. Anemone, [Sifting earth upon the bed]
till..there remain only above ground the Fangs of these young
Anemones.

    III. Technical uses.

    7. Naut.    a. A rope leading from the peak of the gaff of a
fore-and-aft sail to the rail on each side (used for steadying the
gaff). Now usually VANG.

1513 DOUGLAS Æneis V. xiv. 8 Now the lie scheit, and now the luf, thai
slak, Set in a fang, and threw the ra abak. 1769 FALCONER Dict. Marine
Giv, The mizen-yard is furnished with fangs, or vangs in the room of
braces.

    b. pl. The valves of a pump-box. [Cf. 1b.]

1867 in SMYTH Sailor's Word-bk.

    8. Mining. (See quots.) [Derbyshire dialect: perh. a separate
word. Also WINDFANG.]

a1661 FULLER Worthies I. 230 A Spindle, a Lampturne, a Fange. 1747
HOOSON Miner's Dict. Givb, Fange is a Place..which is left as we drive
along the Drift, on purpose to carry Wind along with us. 1802 MAWE
Mineral. Derbysh. Gloss., Fang, a case made of wood, &c., to carry
wind into the mine. 1836 R. FURNESS Medicus Magus 51 [The devil] quite
rusty with the smoke, Fled up the Fang. [Here app. used for
'chimney'.] Ibid. 69 (Glossary) Fang, a passage made for conducting
air after the miner.

    IV. 9. attrib. and Comb.: fang-bolt, a bolt having a spiked nut or
washer, used for attaching iron to wood.

1876 J. W. BARRY Railway Appliances ii. 73 Fang-bolts consist of bolts
long enough to pass through the sleepers, with a screw cut on the
lower end to fit a wide flat nut, having on it fangs or short spikes.
1915 C. J. ALLEN Mod. Brit. Perm. Way 60 Whereas this type of
fang-bolt has in all three separate partsbolt, nut, and washerit will
be noticed that the Great Southern and Western and Great Eastern
fang-bolts..consist of the bolt and a fanged nut only.

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