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Tooth and nail   /tuθ ənd neɪl/   Listen
noun
Tooth  n.  (pl. teeth)  
1.
(Anat.) One of the hard, bony appendages which are borne on the jaws, or on other bones in the walls of the mouth or pharynx of most vertebrates, and which usually aid in the prehension and mastication of food. Note: The hard parts of teeth are principally made up of dentine, or ivory, and a very hard substance called enamel. These are variously combined in different animals. Each tooth consist of three parts, a crown, or body, projecting above the gum, one or more fangs imbedded in the jaw, and the neck, or intermediate part. In some animals one or more of the teeth are modified into tusks which project from the mouth, as in both sexes of the elephant and of the walrus, and in the male narwhal. In adult man there are thirty-two teeth, composed largely of dentine, but the crowns are covered with enamel, and the fangs with a layer of bone called cementum. Of the eight teeth on each half of each jaw, the two in front are incisors, then come one canine, cuspid, or dog tooth, two bicuspids, or false molars, and three molars, or grinding teeth. The milk, or temporary, teeth are only twenty in number, there being two incisors, one canine, and two molars on each half of each jaw. The last molars, or wisdom teeth, usually appear long after the others, and occasionally do not appear above the jaw at all. "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is To have a thankless child!"
2.
Fig.: Taste; palate. "These are not dishes for thy dainty tooth."
3.
Any projection corresponding to the tooth of an animal, in shape, position, or office; as, the teeth, or cogs, of a cogwheel; a tooth, prong, or tine, of a fork; a tooth, or the teeth, of a rake, a saw, a file, a card.
4.
(a)
A projecting member resembling a tenon, but fitting into a mortise that is only sunk, not pierced through.
(b)
One of several steps, or offsets, in a tusk. See Tusk.
5.
(Nat. Hist.) An angular or prominence on any edge; as, a tooth on the scale of a fish, or on a leaf of a plant; specifically (Bot.), One of the appendages at the mouth of the capsule of a moss. See Peristome.
6.
(Zool.) Any hard calcareous or chitinous organ found in the mouth of various invertebrates and used in feeding or procuring food; as, the teeth of a mollusk or a starfish.
In spite of the teeth, in defiance of opposition; in opposition to every effort.
In the teeth, directly; in direct opposition; in front. "Nor strive with all the tempest in my teeth."
To cast in the teeth, to report reproachfully; to taunt or insult one with.
Tooth and nail, as if by biting and scratching; with one's utmost power; by all possible means. "I shall fight tooth and nail for international copyright."
Tooth coralline (Zool.), any sertularian hydroid.
Tooth edge, the sensation excited in the teeth by grating sounds, and by the touch of certain substances, as keen acids.
Tooth key, an instrument used to extract teeth by a motion resembling that of turning a key.
Tooth net, a large fishing net anchored. (Scot.)
Tooth ornament. (Arch.) Same as Dogtooth, n., 2.
Tooth powder, a powder for cleaning the teeth; a dentifrice.
Tooth rash. (Med.) See Red-gum, 1.
To show the teeth, to threaten. "When the Law shows her teeth, but dares not bite."
To the teeth, in open opposition; directly to one's face. "That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Tooth and nail" Quotes from Famous Books



... he did, absurd, rash, and foolish; and said he to himself, "What could be madder than putting on a helmet full of curds, and then persuading oneself that enchanters are softening one's skull; or what could be greater rashness and folly than wanting to fight lions tooth and nail?" ...
— Don Quixote • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
... arithmetic enough to carry it through. It was sailing by dead reckoning to them, and they saw not clearly how to make their port so; therefore I suppose they still take life bravely, after their fashion, face to face, giving it tooth and nail, not having skill to split its massive columns with any fine entering wedge, and rout it in detail;—thinking to deal with it roughly, as one should handle a thistle. But they fight at an overwhelming disadvantage—living, ...
— Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience • Henry David Thoreau
... doubt of that. However, when Peter came to the years of discretion, Peter had sense enough in his noddle to discover, that "a rowing stane gathers no fog;" and, having got an inkling of the penny-pie manufacture when he was a wee smout, he yoked to the baking trade tooth and nail; and, in the course of years, thumped butter-bakes with his elbows to some purpose; so that, at the time of our colleaguing together, Peter was well to do in the world—had bought his own bounds, and built new ones—could lay down the blunt for his article, and take the measure of the ...
— The Life of Mansie Wauch - Tailor in Dalkeith, written by himself • David Macbeth Moir
... said to us. 'Done!' cried the army. 'Forward, march!' said the sergeants. My clothes were in rags, my shoes worn out, from trudging along those roads, which are very uncomfortable ones; but no matter! I said to myself, 'As it's the last of our earthquakings, I'll go into it, tooth and nail!' We were drawn up in line before the great ravine,—front seats, as 'twere. Signal given; and seven hundred pieces of artillery began a conversation that would bring the blood from your ears. Then—must do justice to one's enemies—the Russians let themselves be killed like Frenchmen; they wouldn't ...
— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol 3 • Various
... lie 10 In this state-chamber, dying by degrees, Hours and long hours in the dead night, I ask "Do I live, am I dead?" Peace, peace seems all. Saint Praxed's ever was the church for peace; And so, about this tomb of mine. I fought With tooth and nail to save my niche, ye know: —Old Gandolf cozened me, despite my care; Shrewd was that snatch from out the corner South He graced his carrion with. God curse the same! Yet still my niche is not so cramped but thence 20 One sees the pulpit o' the ...
— Men and Women • Robert Browning


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