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View synonyms for tusk

tusk

[ tuhsk ]

noun

  1. (in certain animals) a tooth developed to great length, usually one of a pair, as in the elephant, walrus, and wild boar, but singly in the narwhal.
  2. a long, pointed, or protruding tooth.
  3. a projection resembling the tusk of an animal.
  4. Also called gain. Carpentry. a diagonally cut shoulder at the end of a timber for strengthening a tenon.


verb (used with object)

  1. to dig up or tear off with the tusks.
  2. to gore with a tusk.

verb (used without object)

  1. to dig up or thrust at the ground with the tusks.

tusk

/ tʌsk /

noun

  1. a pointed elongated usually paired tooth in the elephant, walrus, and certain other mammals that is often used for fighting
  2. the canine tooth of certain animals, esp horses
  3. a sharp pointed projection
  4. Also calledtusk tenon building trades a tenon shaped with an additional oblique shoulder to make a stronger joint


verb

  1. to stab, tear, or gore with the tusks

tusk

/ tŭsk /

  1. A long, pointed tooth, usually one of a pair, projecting from the mouth of certain animals, such as elephants, walruses, and wild pigs. Tusks are used for procuring food and as weapons.


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Derived Forms

  • ˈtuskˌlike, adjective
  • tusked, adjective

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Other Words From

  • tuskless adjective
  • tusklike adjective
  • un·tusked adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of tusk1

before 900; Middle English, metathetic variant of tux, Old English, variant of tusc tush 2; cognate with Old Frisian tusk; akin to tooth

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Word History and Origins

Origin of tusk1

Old English tūsc ; related to Old Frisian tosk ; see tooth

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Example Sentences

Classifying these remains as tusks or teeth, and understanding when the creatures they came from existed and how they are related, helps give a more complete picture of the history of dicynodonts, and how tusks in mammals today came to be.

Elephants use their tusks for a variety of tasks, including stripping bark off of trees and digging for subterranean minerals and water sources.

The post Ivory poaching has triggered a surge in elephants born without tusks appeared first on Popular Science.

Special banks accept pig tusks, which are considered sacred in the region and have been used as ceremonial currency since ancient times.

From Ozy

Poaching was also ruled out, because the elephants’ bodies were intact with their tusks.

In the film world, it was really Kevin Smith who brought Osment back into the fold with Tusk.

Johnny Depp has a pretty sizeable role in Tusk as the Montreal private eye Guy LaPointe.

The first sequence of the show was set to "Tusk" by Fleetwood Mac.

As a patron of Tusk Trust, a conservation charity, Williamtravelled to Botswana in 2010 to raise awareness of the issue.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is making his first visit to Canada this week.

Some of them are found to have but one tusk, the other being torn out in fighting with each other, or falling out through age.

As for his face, all tusk and jaw and no brow, where had Parr gotten such an idea of it?

He held in his hand a curious wooden spear with a loose barb tipped with the tusk of a walrus.

I was therefore very desirous of adding the tusk of one of these wild boars to my trophies of the chase.

The three elephants killed were all bulls, that of Mr. Wallace having only one tusk.

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