subs. (various colloquial).—PHRASES. IN SPITE OF ONE’S TEETH = in defiance of; IN THE TEETH = to one’s face; FROM THE TEETH = apparently, not seriously; TO CAST IN THE TEETH = to taunt, to reproach; TOOTH AND NAIL = whole-hearted, desperate, thorough; TO SHOW ONE’S TEETH = to get angry; TO HAVE THE TEETH WELL AFLOAT (or UNDER) = to be drunk; TO THE HARD TEETH = very severely; ‘He ought to have his TEETH drawn’ = ‘He should be deprived of the power of doing mischief’; TO GO TO GRASS WITH TEETH UPWARDS = to be buried; TO DRAW TEETH = to wrench off knockers (old: medical students’). See TURD.
1542. UDALL, The Apophthegmes of Erasmus, 355. Cicero mocked her TO THE HARDE TEETH.
1593. SHAKESPEARE, Comedy of Errors, ii. 2.
| Dost thou jeer, and flout me IN THE TEETH? | |
| Ibid. (1596), Hamlet, iv. 7. | |
| It warms the very sickness in my heart, | |
| That I shall live and tell him TO HIS TEETH, | |
| ‘Thus didest thou.’ | |
| Ibid. (1598), 2 Henry IV., v. 3. 96. | |
| PUFF IN THY TEETH, most recreant coward base! | |
| Ibid. (1608), Antony and Cleopatra, iii. 4. 8. | |
| When the best hint was given him, he not look’t, | |
| Or did it FROM HIS TEETH. |
1603. The Court and Times of James the First. [Among the verbs is] SHOW OUR TEETH.
1663. DRYDEN, The Wild Gallant [LITTLEDALE, Dyce’s Glossary]. I am confident she is only angry FROM THE TEETH outwards.
1885. Daily Telegraph, 6 Nov. A desperate TOOTH-AND-NAIL encounter raged for some moments before the tomb.
