teethe, v.
(tiːð)
Forms: 5 teth, 8–9 teeth, 9 teethe.
[f. teeth, pl. of tooth: there might also have been an OE. *téðan from *tanþjan; cf. bleed, feed.]
1. intr. To develop or ‘cut’ teeth. (Now only in pr. pple. and vbl. n.: see teething.)
| c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) vi. lf. 17 b, Þei teth twyse in þe yere whan þei be wolfes [v.r. whelpes]. 1732 [see teething vbl. n. 1]. 1755 Johnson, Teeth v. n., to breed teeth; to be at the time of dentition. 1865 Princess Alice Mem. 11 Mar. (1884) 90 Victoria is teething, which makes her pale and poorly. |
2. trans. To furnish with teeth, to set teeth in. Chiefly dial.
| 1775 in Ash. 1794 Burns Song, O merry hae I been teethin' a heckle, And merry hae I been shapin' a spoon. 1832 W. A. Foster in Minstrelsy Merse (1893) 153 Out through the mark the arrows flew, They teethed it like a harrow. 1865 E. Burritt Walk Land's End 424 The cliffs that teeth the rift look as if they would shut into each other. |
3. To ‘point’ (a wall, etc.) with lime or mortar.
| 1794 St. Acc. Scot. XI. 482 Stone walls teethed with lime. |
Hence ˈteething ppl. a. (in sense 1).
| 1832 Marryat N. Forster xxiv, The teething infant. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 761 Looseness of the bowels..common in teething infants. |