dent

1. 1. One of a set of hard, bonelike structures rooted in sockets in the jaws of vertebrates, typically composed of a core of soft pulp surrounded by a layer of hard dentin that is coated with cementum or enamel at the crown and used for biting or chewing food or as a means of attack or defense.

   2. A similar structure in invertebrates, such as one of the pointed denticles or ridges on the exoskeleton of an arthropod or the shell of a mollusk.

   3. Something that injures or destroys with force. Often used in the plural: the teeth of the blizzard.

   4. teeth Effective means of enforcement; muscle: "This . . . puts real teeth into something where there has been only lip service" (Ellen Convisser).

2. A projecting part resembling a tooth in shape or function, as on a comb, gear, or saw.

3. A small, notched projection along a margin, especially of a leaf. Also called dent².

4. A rough surface, as of paper or metal.

5. 1. Something that injures or destroys with force. Often used in the plural: the teeth of the blizzard.

   2. teeth Effective means of enforcement; muscle: "This . . . puts real teeth into something where there has been only lip service" (Ellen Convisser).

6. Taste or appetite: She always had a sweet tooth.

1. To furnish (a tool, for example) with teeth.

2. To make a jagged edge on.

Word History: Eating, biting, teeth, and dentists are related not only logically but etymologically; that is, the roots of the words eat, tooth, and dentist have a common origin. The Proto-Indo-European root *ed-, meaning "to eat" and the source of our word eat, originally meant "to bite." A participial form of *ed- in this sense was *dent-, "biting," which came to mean "tooth." Our word tooth comes from *dont-, a form of *dent-, with sound changes that resulted in the Germanic word *tanthuz. This word became Old English tōth and Modern English tooth. Meanwhile the Proto-Indo-European form *dent- itself became in Latin dēns (stem dent-), "tooth," from which is derived our word dentist. We find a descendant of another Proto-Indo-European form *(o)dont- in the word orthodontist.

1. A depression in a surface made by pressure or a blow: a dent in the side of a car.

2. Informal A significant, usually diminishing effect or impression: The loss put a dent in the team's confidence.

3. Informal Meaningful progress; headway: at least made a dent in the work.