Also 7 phang(e. [OE. fang, cogn. with OFris. fang m., ON. fang n., MHG. fang, vanc m., repr. OTeut. *fango-, f. root of *fanhan (see FANG v.).]
I. The act or fact of catching or seizing.
† 1. A capture, catch. Also a tight grasp, a grip. In fang with: in the embrace, under the protection of. (Cf. ON. í fang, in one’s arms.)
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 1725. In fang with my faire godis.
c. 1470. Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, XI. 1219. King Eduuard was rycht fayn off that fang.
1597. J. Payne, Royal Exch., 41. Whome he once gettethe with full fange into his gripinge clowches he howldeth faster then catt the mowce.
1600. Shaks., As You Like It, II. i. 6.
| The seasons difference, as the Icie phange | |
| And churlish chiding of the winters winde. |
b. Sc. In phrase To lose the fang: ‘to miss one’s aim, to fail in an attempt’ (Jam.). Also of a pump (see quot.).
1825. Jamieson, Suppl. I. s.v. A pump well is said to lose the fang when the water quits the pump.
2. concr. That which is caught or taken; captured game; booty, plunder, spoils (obs. exc. Sc.). Hence, in Sc. Law of a thief: Caught, taken with the fang.
1016. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.). [Hi] fang woldon fon.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 3727 (Cott.).
| Was þou not at me right now, | |
| And fedd me wit þi fang i trau? | |
| Ibid., 15434 (Cott.). | |
| Quen þis wreche Iudas þus | |
| receiued had his fang. | |
| Ibid. (c. 1340), 4801 (Fairf.). | |
| Quen ȝe fondyn haue þour fange. |
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., 71. Gif ane man apprehends in his house ane theif, with the fang of the thift.
1728. Biggar Council Proceedings. The fangs (plunder) being found in his house.
1790. Morrison, Poems, 110.
| Snap went the sheers, then in a wink, | |
| The fang was stow’d behind a bink. |
II. An instrument for catching or holding.
† 3. A noose, trap. In quots. fig. Obs.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., I. 470.
| The Britis fled, and wes fane of that fang | |
| To leif the Romanis in the thickest thrang. |
1794. The Piper of Peebles, 277.
| The Laird was fairly in a fang, | |
| An’ naething for him now—but hang. |
4. A canine tooth; a tusk. In pl. applied gen. to the teeth of dogs, wolves, or other animals remarkable for strength of jaw.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 220. Theyr [Iuannas’] teethe are very sharpe, and especially theyr fanges or dogge teeth.
1613. Heywood, Silver Age, III. 157. These phangs shall gnaw vpon your cruded bones.
a. 1700. Dryden, Ovid, VIII. 535.
| Enesimus far’d worse, prepar’d to fly, | |
| The fatal Fang drove deep within his Thigh. |
a. 1771. Gray, Poems, The Descent of Odin, 10.
| Hoarse he bays with hideous din, | |
| Eyes that glow, and fangs that grin. |
1808. Med. Jrnl., XIX. 58. This is done by inserting his [a leech’s] three fangs into the skin.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, iii. The few discoloured fangs gave him the aspect of a panting dog.
1867. Emerson, May Day, etc., Solution, Wks. (Bohn), III. 439.
| On spawning slime my song prevails, | |
| Wolves shed their fangs, and dragons scales. |
fig. 1601. Shaks., Twel. N., I. v. 196. Yet (by the verie phangs of malice, I sweare) I am not that I play.
a. 1633. Austin, Medit. (1635), 191. Fast in the Iron fangs of that Foxe Herod.
1794. C. J. Fox, Sp., 21 Jan., Wks. 1815, V. 159. In Poland, liberty is subverted; that fair portion of the creation seized by the relentless fangs of despotism; the wretched inhabitants reduced to the same situation with the other slaves of their new masters, and in order to add insult to cruelty, enjoined to sing Te Deum for the blessings thus conferred upon them.
1827. Hallam, Const. Hist. (1876), I. i. 28. Sufficient to bring him within the fangs of the recent statute.
1867. Trollope, Chron. Barset, II. lii. 89. Having strong hopes … that Grace’s father might escape the fangs of justice.
b. In various transferred uses: (see quots.).
1694. Acc. Sev. Late Voy., II. (1711), 123. He [the Prawn] hath two Claws before, the further part whereof looks somewhat like the Phangs of a Tooth-drawer.
1776. Mickle, trans. Camoens’ Lusiad VII. 281.
| And the broad standard slowly waving o’er, | |
| The anchor’s moony fangs. |
1789. Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts, VII. 193. The fangs on the fliers are alternately driven.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Amelia, Fang, a fin. From the fancied resemblance of their pointed ends to long teeth.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xlvi. (1856), 423–4. The water-line was toothed with fangs of broken ice, which scraped against the beach as the tides rose and fell; and an iceberg somehow or other had found its way into the little port.
1878. Browning, La Saisiaz, 74.
| Blanc, supreme above his earth-brood, needles red and white and green, | |
| Horns of silver, fangs of crystal set on edge in his demesne. |
† c. pl. The mandibles of an insect. Obs.
1609. C. Butler, Fem. Mon. (1634), 102. The matter thereof [of wax] they gather from flowers with their Fangs: which, being kept soft with the heat of their little bodies, of the Aire, and of their Hiues, is wrought into Combs.
1713. Warder, True Amazons (ed. 2), 3. Her [a Bee’s] Fangs, or Mouth, wherein are her Teeth, but meet in a different way from other Creatures, they meeting sideways like a pair of Pincers.
d. The venom-tooth of a serpent; also the claws, provided with poison-ducts, which terminate the cheliceræ of a spider.
1800. Med. Jrnl., IV. 295. The punctures made by the poisonous fangs were evident.
1802. Paley, Nat. Theol., xii. § 1. The fang of a viper is a clear and curious example of mechanical contrivance. It is a perforated tooth.
1855. Kingsley, Heroes, II. 206. Where are your spider’s fangs?
1862. Darwin, Fertil. Orchids, vi. 220. Each horn is tubular, like an adder’s fang.
1875. Cambridge, Arachnida, in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9), II. 294. The channel [of the poison] running completely through the fang [in a spider].
fig. 1809–10. Coleridge, The Friend (1865), 57–8. God’s gracious Providence may have vouchsafed to you against the serpent fang of this error—but it is a viper, and its poison deadly, although through higher influences some men may take the reptile to their bosom, and remain unstung.
1849. Robertson, Serm., Ser. I. xiii. 224. The fang of evil pierces the heel of the noblest as he treads it down.
† 5. A claw or talon. Obs.
Although this sense would appear on etymological grounds likely to have existed, it seems to rest solely on the authority of the Dicts. Possibly it may have been wrongly inferred from figurative applications of sense 4, in which the pl. is often equivalent to ‘clutches,’ ‘grasp,’ with little or no conscious allusion to the literal use.
1731. J. K., New Eng. Dict. (ed. 3). Fang, a claw.
1749. B. Martin. Fangs, claws.
1755. Johnson, Fang, the nails, the talons.
† b. (See quot.)
1768. E. Buys, Dict. Terms Art. Fangs (in Botany) the shoots or tendrils by means of which one Plant takes hold of another.
6. The pointed tapering part of anything which is embedded in something else. a. A spike; the tang of a tool.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1776), Dog, a sort of iron hook, or bar, with a sharp fang at one end, so formed as to be easily driven into a plank.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 222. Fang.—The narrow part of the iron of any instrument which passes into the stock.
1887. Darlington, Folk-speech S. Cheshire, Gloss., Fang, a prong; e.g., a yelve-fang.
b. The root of a tooth; one of the prongs into which this divides.
1666. Phil. Trans., I. 381. That Tooth … which had not a phang like other Cutters.
1803. Med. Jrnl., X. 365. If the fangs were capable of an increase by the ossific inflammation.
1872. Huxley, Phys., vi. 142. Each of the thirty-two teeth which have been mentioned consists of a crown which projects above the gum, and one or more fangs, which are embedded in sockets, or what are called alveoli, in the jaws.
† c. A prong of a divided root. Obs.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 200. Take out your Indian Tuberoses, parting the Off-sets (but with Care, lest you break their Fangs).
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Anemone, [Sifting earth upon the bed] till … there remain only above ground the Fangs of these young Anemones.
III. Technical uses.
7. Naut. a. A rope leading from the peak of the gaff of a fore-and-aft sail to the rail on each side (used for steadying the gaff). Now usually VANG.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, V. xiv. 8.
| Now the lie scheit, and now the luf, thai slak, | |
| Set in a fang, and threw the ra abak. |
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine, G iv. The mizen-yard is furnished with fangs, or vangs in the room of braces.
b. pl. The valves of a pump-box. [Cf. 1 b.]
1867. in Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.
8. Mining. (See quots.) [Derbyshire dialect: perh. a separate word. Also WINDFANG.]
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, I. 230.
| Corfe, Clivies, Deads, Meers, Groves, Rake-soil the Gange, | |
| Binge-Oar, a Spindle, a Lampturne, a Fange, | |
| Fleaks, Knockings, Coestid, Trunks and Sparks of Oar, | |
| Sole of the Rake, Smitham, and many more. |
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., G iv b. Fange is a Place … which is left as we drive along the Drift, on purpose to carry Wind along with us.
1802. Mawe, Mineral. Derbysh., Gloss., 204. Fang. A case made of wood, &c., to carry wind into the mine.
1836. R. Furness, Medicus Magus, 51.
| With that, he roused the fire—fresh fuel broke, | |
| Till Nicco ’hemm’d, quite rusty with the smoke— | |
| Fled up the Fang, and wheezing hard for wind, | |
| Shot sulphur-sacrum down on all behind. |
