Forms: α. 1 tusc, 4 tussche, 4–6 tusche, 5 tusshe, 6– tush. β. 4 tossche, 5 tosch(e, toyssh, 6 (9 dial.) tosh. [ME. tus(s)ch, tos(s)ch, normal representatives of OE. tusc (see TUSK sb.1); partly specialized in use.]
1. = TUSK sb.1 1. Now chiefly arch. or dial.
α. c. 725. Corpus Gloss., G. 62. Genuino, tusc.
c. 1050. in Wr.-Wülcker, 489. Genuinis, tuscum.
13[?]. Seuyn Sages (W.), 914. The tusches in the tre he smit.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1573. [The boar] Whettez his whyte tuschez.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xxxi. (Bodl. MS.). Beestes wiþ teeþ and tussches in aiþer iowe haue none hornes.
c. 1410. Master of Game (MS. Digby 82), v. Men beyonde þe see calleth þe neither tusshes of þe boore his armes, or elles his files,… also þei calleth his tusshes aboue gres.
1576. Turberv., Venerie, 150. Amonge the reste they have foure [teeth],… and we call them Tuskes or Tusches.
1621. G. Sandys, Ovid’s Met., VIII. (1626), 157. His tushes equall those Of Indian Elephants.
1672. Josselyn, New Eng. Rarities, 97. Morse, or Sea Horse, having a great Head,… armed with Tashes as white as Ivory.
1737. Stackhouse, Hist. Bible (1767), VI. VI. iii. 77. The whale has neither teeth nor tushes.
1848. Kingsley, Saint’s Trag., II. viii. 299. He is an old boar, and honest; he wears his tushes outside, for a warning to all men.
β. 13[?]. Seuyn Sages (W.), 911. The bor … wette his tossches and his fet.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 497/2. Tosche, longe tothe (Winch. MS. tosch; Pynson toyssh), colomellus, culmus.
a. 1563. Becon, Humble Supplic., Wks. III. 22. Whose teeth ar like to ye venomous toshes of ye rampyng lyon.
1823–78. in dial. glossaries (E. Anglia, Northumb., Cumb.).
b. spec. A canine tooth, esp. of a horse: cf. TUSK sb.1 1 b.
1607. Markham, Caval., I. iv. (1617), 23. At fiue yeares olde he changes his tushes. Ibid. (1610), Masterp., II. clxvii. 477. The [horse’s] tush will be white, small, short, and sharp.
c. 1720. W. Gibson, Farrier’s Guide, I. vi. (1738), 86. The canini or Dog teeth, which in Horses are called the Tushes.
1766. Pennant, Zool. (1768), I. 107. The Hedge hog…. In each jaw are two sharp pointed cutting teeth: in the upper jaw are on each side four tushes, and five grinders: in the lower … three tushes … and … four grinders.
1850. Smedley, F. Fairlegh, xl. Rising five and six … tush well up in one, and nicely through in the other.
c. A stunted tusk in some Indian elephants.
1859. Tennent, Ceylon, II. VIII. i. 274. Not one elephant in a hundred is found with tusks in Ceylon…. Nearly all, however, have those stunted processes which are called tushes, about ten or twelve inches in length and one or two in diameter.
1859. All Year Round, No. 32. 129. All the untusked elephants of Ceylon have ‘tushes,’… which they use in snapping of small branches.
1878. J. Gibson, in Encycl. Brit., VIII. 125/1. The male [Ceylon elephant] … generally has a pair of upper incisors, known as ‘tushes,’ about a foot long, and one or two inches in diameter.
1900. Pollok & Thom, Sports Burma, ii. 35. The result of the cross-breed is that you get large males with very poor tusks, but still tusks, as distinct from tushes.
2. In a plow: = FIN sb. 3 b. Obs. exc. dial.
1649. Blithe, Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653), 193. The Tush or Phin of the Share will whelm the more being set down to the work which is the Levell or bottom of the head.
1787. Grose, Provinc. Gloss., Tush, the wing of a ploughshare. Glouc.
1894. S. E. Worc. Gloss., Tush, (1) the broad part of a plough-share.
3. Arch. (See quot. and cf. TUSS.)
1905. Bond, Gothic Archit., 366. There may still be seen the ‘tushes’; i. e. the projecting courses on which the heads of the flying buttresses were to rest.
Hence Tushed a., having a tush or tushes; tusked.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 497/2. Toschyd, or tuskyd (P. toysshyd), colomellatus.
1649. Blithe, Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653), 29. Plow thy Land a thin broad furrow,… or rather flay it, or take off thy Skin or Turf with a very broad whinged or tushed share.
c. 1828. [see TUSKED a. b].
