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tusk

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

See also: Tusk

English

Walruses with tusks.
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Men with elephant tusks.

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English tusk (also tux, tusch), from Old English tūx, tūsc (“canine tooth, tusk, molar”), from Proto-West Germanic *tų̄sk, *tunsk, from Proto-Germanic *tunþskaz (“canine tooth”), extended form of *tanþs (“tooth”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dónts (“tooth”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tusk (“tooth”), West Frisian tosk (“tooth”), Icelandic toskur (“a tusk, tooth”) (whence the Old Norse and Icelandic Ratatoskr and Ratatoskur respectively), Gothic 𐍄𐌿𐌽𐌸𐌿𐍃 (tunþus, “tooth”) and *𐍄𐌿𐌽𐌳𐌹 (*tundi, “thorn, tooth”). Doublet of tush. More at tooth.

Noun

tusk (plural tusks)

  1. One of a pair of elongated pointed teeth that extend outside the mouth of an animal such as walrus, elephant or wild boar, and which continue to grow throughout the animal's life.
    Until the CITES sales ban, elephant tusks were the 'backbone' of the legal ivory trade.
  2. A small projection on a (tusk) tenon.
  3. A tusk shell.
  4. (carpentry) A projecting member like a tenon, and serving the same or a similar purpose, but composed of several steps, or offsets, called teeth.[1]
  5. A sharp point.
  6. The share of a plough.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

tusk (third-person singular simple present tusks, present participle tusking, simple past and past participle tusked)

  1. To dig up using a tusk, as boars do.
  2. To gore with the tusks.
  3. (obsolete) To bare or gnash the teeth.

References

  1. [1]
    “tusk”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
  • Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “tusk”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  • Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

tusk (plural tusks)

  1. A fish, the torsk (Brosme brosme).

Kashubian

Ludian

Middle English

Old Frisian

Veps

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