axle tooth

English

Alternative forms

• axeltooth, assiltooth, axill tooth

Etymology

From Middle English axyltothe, of North Germanic origin, from axyl, from Old Norse jaxl (“a jaw-tooth, grinder”) + Middle English tothe (“tooth”). Cognate with Scots assletuith, asseltuith (“molar, axletooth”). Compare also Danish axeltand (“molar, axletooth”), Swedish oxeltand (“molar, axletooth”).

Noun

axle tooth (plural axle teeth)

1. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A molar tooth; molar.
   • 1607, Thomas Walkington, The optick glasse of humors‎^[1]:

     […] to loose an axill tooth or an eye, the death of some speciall friend: to dream of bloody teeth, the death of the dreamer […]

   • 1657, Jean de Renou, translated by Richard Tomlinson, A medicinal dispensatory‎^[2], translation of original in French:

     Many Women would rather endure the Tooth-ach, than their blackness, which not withstanding the Commonalty regard not: yet such a marcour came upon Metrodorus his sons gums, that both his axle teeth, and also his gums, fell out.

   • 1702, Stephen Blancard, The Physical Dictionary‎^[3]:

     Cynodentes, are those Teeth betwixt the Axel Teeth and the Grinders, called Canini, Columellares, and Oculares, Eye-Teeth, as we say.

   • 1738, Henry Bracken, Farriery Improv'd: or, a Compleat treatise upon the art of farriery‎^[4]:

     When the Muscles contract in Length, they swell in Thickness, as may be perceived by laying the Finger upon the Masseter or Muscle of the lower-Jaw, and pressing the Grinders or Axel-teeth together […]

   • 1790, J. Cundall, The School of Arts; Or New Book of Useful Knowledge‎^[5]:

     The Lamperts in a horse's mouth are known by every person; they are flaps that many do not understand, they are pieces of loose skin that grow in the wicks of their mouths, adjoining the axel teeth, and when they are eating hay or corn, it is apt to get betwixt them, which makes their mouth fore, and they are afraid of eating.

Synonyms

• grinder
• wangtooth