fang

• enPR: făng, IPA^(key): /fæŋ/
• Rhymes: -æŋ

From an abbreviation of fangtooth, from Middle English *fangtooth, *fengtooth, from Old English fængtōþ, fengtōþ (“canine tooth”, literally “snag-tooth, catch-tooth”). Cognate with German Fangzahn (“fang”, literally “catch-tooth”) and Dutch vangtand.

fang (plural fangs)

1. a long, pointed canine tooth used for biting and tearing flesh
2. (in snakes) a long pointed tooth for injecting venom

• fanged
• fangless
• unfang

fang (third-person singular simple present fangs, present participle fanging, simple past and past participle fanged)

1. (rare) To strike or attack with the fangs.
2. To enable to catch or tear; to furnish with fangs.
   • Philips

     chariots fanged with scythes

From Middle English fangen, from Old English fōn (“to take, grasp, seize, catch, capture, make prisoner, receive, accept, assume, undertake, meet with, encounter”), and Old Norse fanga (“to fetch, capture”), both from Proto-Germanic *fanhaną, *fangōną (“to catch, capture”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ- (“to attach”). Cognate with West Frisian fange (“to catch”), Dutch vangen (“to catch”), German fangen (“to catch”), Danish fange (“to catch”), Albanian peng (“to hinder, hold captive”), Sanskrit पाशयति (pāśáyati, “(s)he binds”).

fang (third-person singular simple present fangs, present participle fanging, simple past and past participle fanged)

1. (transitive, dialectal or archaic) To catch, capture; seize; grip; clutch; lay hold of.
   • 1605, Webster, John, Northward Ho, Act 1, Scene 2:

     Gentlemen, break not the head of the peace: it's to no purpose, for he's in the law's clutches; you see he's fanged.

   • c. 1605–1606, Shakespeare, William, Timon of Athens, Act 4, Scene 3:

     Destruction fang mankind.

2. (transitive, dialectal or obsolete) To take; receive with assent; accept.
3. (transitive, obsolete, as a guest) To receive with hospitality; welcome.
4. (transitive, obsolete, a thing given or imposed) To receive.
5. (transitive, dialectal) To receive or adopt into spiritual relation, as in baptism; be godfather or godmother to.

• (seize; grip; clutch): clasp, grasp, grip; See also Thesaurus:grasp
• (take): land, lay hands on, score; See also Thesaurus:receive or Thesaurus:take
• (receive with hospitality): greet, welcome
• (receive): cop, get; See also Thesaurus:receive
• (adopt into spiritual relation):

From Middle English fang, feng (“a catching, capture, seizing”), from Old English fang, feng (“grip, embrace, grasp, grasping, capture, prey, booty, plunder”), from Proto-Germanic *fangą, *fangiz, *fanhiz (“catch, catching, seizure”), from *fanhaną (“to catch, capture”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ- (“to attach”). Cognate with Scots fang (“that which is taken, capture, catch, prey, booty”), Dutch vang (“a catch”), Low German fangst (“a catch”), German Fang (“a catch, capture, booty”), Swedish fång, fångst, Icelandic fang. Related also to Latin pangere (“to solidify, drive in”), Albanian mpij (“to benumb, stiffen”), Ancient Greek πήγνυμι (pḗgnumi, “to stiffen, firm up”), Sanskrit पाशयति (pāśáyati, “(s)he binds”).

fang (plural fangs)

1. (now chiefly dialectal, Scotland) A grasping; capture; the act or power of seizing; hold.
2. That which is seized or carried off; booty; spoils; stolen goods.
3. Any projection, catch, shoot, or other thing by which hold is taken; a prehensile part or organ.
   • Evelyn

     the protuberant fangs of the yucca

4. (mining) A channel cut in the rock, or a pipe of wood, used for conveying air.
5. (rare, in the plural) Cage-shuts.
6. (nautical) The coil or bend of a rope; (by extension) a noose; a trap.
7. (nautical) The valve of a pump box.

• (stolen goods): See Thesaurus:booty

• fanging

fang (third-person singular simple present fangs, present participle fanging, simple past and past participle fanged)

1. (Scotland, transitive) To supply (a pump) with the water necessary for it to operate.

Of Germanic origin, from Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌽𐌲𐌰 (fanga, “mud, addle, mire”), from Proto-Germanic *fangō (“wetness, moisture”), from Proto-Indo-European *penk- (“mud, rot, filth”). Cognate with French fange (“mud, mire”) (from Germanic), German feucht (“moist, damp”), Dutch vocht (“moisture, humidity”), Old English fūht (“moist, damp”), Swedish fukt (“moisture, humidity”).

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈfaŋk/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /ˈfaŋ/

fang m (plural fangs)

1. mud

• llot m

fang

1. imperative of fange
   1. Catch.
   2. Capture.

      Fang mig! ― Catch me!

• Rhymes: -aŋ

fang

1. Imperative singular of fangen.

From Old Norse fang (“catch; embrace, hold”), from Proto-Germanic *fangą (“catch”), from Proto-Germanic *fanhaną (“to take, to seize; to catch, to capture”).

• IPA^(key): /fauŋk/
• Rhymes: -auŋk

fang n (genitive singular fangs, nominative plural föng)

1. embrace, hold, grasp

   Synonym: faðmur

2. (in the plural) provisions

   Synonym: vistir

• fá (“to get, to receive”)
• fengur (“catch; benefit, gain”)

fang

1. Nonstandard spelling of fāng.
2. Nonstandard spelling of fáng.
3. Nonstandard spelling of fǎng.
4. Nonstandard spelling of fàng.

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

fang n (definite singular fanget, indefinite plural fang, definite plural fanga or fangene)

1. lap

fang

1. imperative of fange

• IPA^(key): /fɑŋː/

From Old Norse fang

fang n (definite singular fanget, indefinite plural fang, definite plural fanga)

1. lap

fang

1. imperative of fanga

• “fang” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Proto-Germanic *fangą, *fangiz, *fanhiz (“catch, catching, seizure”), from *fanhaną (“to catch, capture”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɑnɡ/, [ˈfɑŋɡ]

fang m

1. plunder, booty

• fōn

From Old Irish fang (compare Welsh gwanc (“voracity”))

fang f (genitive singular fainge, plural fangan)

1. vulture
2. raven

• Faclair Gàidhlig Dwelly Air Loidhne, Dwelly, Edward (1911), Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan/The Illustrated [Scottish] Gaelic-English Dictionary (10th ed.), Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• “fang” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Origin uncertain

fang

1. fank, sheep pen