fang (fang)

[ fang - toth. fangzahn ), lit. catch-tooth.] 1. A grasping; capture; the act or power of seizing; hold. [Obsolete or Scotch.] To London with him [Wallace] Clyffurd and Wallang gais Quhar king Eduuard was rycht fayn off that fang. Wallace , xi. 1219, MS. ( Jamie son .) 2. That which is seized or carried off; booty; spoils; stolen goods. Snap went the sheers, then in a wink The fang was stow'd behind a bink. Morison, Poems, p. 110. ( Jamie son .) 3. Any projection, catch, shoot, or other thing by which hold is taken; a prehensile part or organ. The protuberant fangs of the yucca. Evelyn, Calendarium Hortense. Specifically-(a) A claw or talon; a falcula. (b) A fin. Eng.] (c) A long, sharp tooth, as an organ of with pres. ind. 3d pers. sing. fanges, etc., being a umed from pret. and pp.); inf. prop. fon (pres. ind. fo, fost, foth, etc.; prop. a strong verb, pret. feng, pl. fengen, pp. fangen, but also with weak pret. and pp. fanged, fonged ), pax ( pac- ), peace, etc.: see pact, compact, compact2, impact, impinge, peace, etc.), = Gr. πηγνύναι, fasten. The same Teut. root unnasalized appears perhaps in AS. fēgan, join, unite, fix, E. fayl, unite, fit, and in Goth. fagrs, fit, adapted, = AS. fæger, E. fair, beautiful: see fayl and fair1. To the same ult. root belong E. fee and its L. kindred, peculate, pecu liar, pecuniary, etc. The phonetic history of fang is similar to that of hang, q. v.] I. trans. 1. To catch; seize; grip; clutch; lay hold of. [Now only prov. Eng.] Thus he fellez thi folke, and fangez theire gudez! Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), L. 1249. York Plays , p. 88. Perchauns we salle thaym fang And mar them or to morne at none. Be abhorr'd All feasts, societies, and throngs of men! His semblable, yea, himself, Timon disdains: Destruction fang mankind! Shak . , T. of A., iv. 3. 21. To take; receive with a ent; accept. He willede anon in hys herte to fonge cristendom. Robert of Gloucester, p. 73. She wold reneye her lay, And cristendom of preestes handes fonge . Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 279. 3t. To receive with hospitality, as a guest; welcome. Than he fongit tho freikes with a fine chere. Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 366. 41. To receive (a thing given or imposed). The first dome he fanged , for tres on was he drawn. or an elephant. Since I am a dog, beware my fangs . Shak . , M. of V., iii. 3. Some creatures have overlong or outgrowing teeth, which we call fangs or tusks. Bacon , Nat. Hist. (d) The socketed part of tooth, as that by which the tooth holds on to the jaw. There may be one or several fangs. Occasionally the second molar becomes so eroded, through absorption of its posterior fang by the pre ure of the wisdom-tooth, as to cause inflammation of the pulp. Quain, Med. Dict. (e) The poison or venom-tooth of a serpent, through which venom is injected into a wound made by it. See venom, and cut under poison - fang. The fangs are longer, more curved, more movable, and more formidable in viperine than in colubrine snakes. Quain, Med. Dict. (f) The pointed and curved second joint of the falx or chelicera of a spider, pierced at the tip by the opening of the poison-duct. The term is sometimes applied to the whole chelicera. See cuts under chelicera and falx. Whilst the fangs of one section of spiders move laterally, those of the Mygalidæ move vertically. Quain, Med. Dict. (g) The tang of a tool. (h) Any projecting prong in a lock or a bolt. 4. In mining: (a) A channel cut in the rock, or a pipe of wood, for conveying air. [Rare.] (b) pl. Cage-shuts. [South Wales coal-fields, Eng.] -5. The coil or bend of a rope; hence, a noose; a trap. - Through fang, in the manufacture of cutlery, the method of drilling a hole completely through the handle and inserting a cylindrical or four-sided prong, riveting it at the opposite end. fanged (fangd), a. 1. Furnished with fangs, tusks, or something resembling them: as, a fanged adder. My two schoolfellows, Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd . Shak., Hamlet, iii. 4. In chariots fanged with scythe they scour the field. A. Philips , The Briton. 2. Having fangs as roots; rooted; radicated. fanger (fang'er), n. [ fanger (= OHG. fangari ), one who takes or receives, fang , v.] 1. A receiver. [Prov. Eng.]-2t. A helper; a protector. Emange the phi los of ers firste Ther fanged I my fame. York Plays , p. 220. 5. To receive or adopt into spiritual relation, as in baptism; be godfather or godmother to. [Prov. Eng.] II.t in trans. To seize; lay hold.