Meaning

One of a pair of elongated pointed teeth (either cuspids or incisors) that extend outside the mouth of an animal such as walrus, elephant or wild boar, and which continue to grow throughout the animal's life..

Definitions by Sense

1. One of a pair of elongated pointed teeth (either cuspids or incisors) that extend outside the mouth of an animal such as walrus, elephant or wild boar, and which continue to grow throughout the animal's life.
2. A small projection on a (tusk) tenon.
3. A tusk shell.
4. (carpentry) A projecting member like a tenon, and serving the same or a similar purpose, but composed of several steps, or offsets, called teeth.
5. A sharp point.
6. The share of a plough.
7. To dig up using a tusk, as boars do.
8. To gore with the tusks.

Example Sentences

Until the CITES sales ban, elephant tusks were the 'backbone' of the legal ivory trade.

Word Forms

• tusks
• tusking
• tusked

Synonyms for tusk

Related Words

When Should You Use Tusk?

Use tusk when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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