toothache
(ˈtuːθeɪk)
Forms: see tooth n. and ache n.; also 4–7 -ake, 6 Sc. -aike, -ȝaik, 7–9 -ach.
An ache or continuous pain in a tooth or the teeth. (As a malady, commonly the tooth ache down to 19th. c. See the 8.)
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xx. 81 Coughes, and cardiacles, crampes, and tothaches. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon ix. 215 The Kyng..sayd he had the tooth ache. a 1585 Montgomerie Flyting 321 The phtiseik, þe twithȝaik [v.r. toothaike], þe tittis, and þe tirrillis. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. ii. 21, I haue the tooth-ach. Ibid. v. i. 36 There was neuer yet Philosopher, That could endure the tooth-ake patiently. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. iii. Disc. xvi. 56 Some persons used certain verses of the psalter as an antidote against tooth-ach. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 7 ¶4 She lay ill of the Tooth-ach. a 1774 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 581 Engaged at home by a violent toothache. 1791 Burke App. Whigs Wks. VI. 221 A charm for the tooth-ach. 1887 Times 26 Aug. 7/4 All that is the matter with him is a fit of toothache. |
b. attrib., usually denoting something used as a remedy for toothache, as toothache spell, toothache tincture; toothache-grass, a N. American grass (Ctenium americanum) having a very pungent taste; toothache-tree, (a) name for several N. American species of the genus Xanthoxylon, having pungent aromatic fruit, esp. X. fraxineum, also called prickly ash; (b) the similar N. American Aralia spinosa, also called angelica-tree.
| 1616 Sylvester Tobacco Battered 655 It is but like some of our Tooth-ake Spells, Which for the present seem to ease the Pain. 1730 Mortimer in Phil. Trans. XXXVI. 428 Zanthoxylum spinosum,..the Pellitory or Tooth-ach Tree. 1860 Mayne Expos. Lex., Tooth-ache Tree, a common name for the tree Aralia spinosa. 1860 Worcester, Toothache-grass. |
Hence ˈtoothˌachy a. (colloq.), affected with toothache. So ˈtooth-ˌaching, aching of the teeth, toothache.
| 1709 Brit. Apollo II. No. 7. 3/2, I was taken With a vi'lent Tooth-aching. 1838 Lady Granville Lett. (1894) II. 269 Toothachy and tired, I have been writing this letter. 1900 E. Glyn Visits Elizabeth (1906) 72 That is how she got the toothachy look. |