teeth, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

teeth n.

1. (US/W.I. Rasta) bullets [similarity in shape].

1961		W.R. Burnett Conant 100: ‘[H]ere’s your heater. I jerked its teeth, so don’t forget to reload it or you’ll be playing a dead hand’.
2004		‘Patois Dict.’ www.dancehallareaz.com 🌐.
2017		410 ‘Crash’ 🎵 Hella corn for them fuckboys that love boys / [...] / Teeth der just touch boys.

2. (drugs) cocaine, crack cocaine [similarity in colour/size].

2001

ONDCP Street Terms 21: Teeth — Cocaine; Crack Cocaine.

In phrases

chip one’s teeth (v.) (also chip the china) [one’s fury figuratively damages one’s teeth]

(US, orig. milit.) to talk, esp. to excess or angrily.

1944		P. Kendall Dict. Service Sl. 35: Chipping the china [...] complaining.
1958		McCulloch Woods Words.
1962		D. Dempsey ‘The Language of Traffic Policemen’ in AS XXXVII:4 268: chip one’s teeth, v. phr. To demonstrate extreme anger.
1975		J. Wambaugh Choirboys (1976) 85: I could easier put up with all the Hebes in Kosher Canyon chippin their teeth every time you give them a ticket.

chop one’s teeth (v.)

see beat one’s gums v.

draw teeth (v.) [Hotten (1864) cites it as ‘Medical Student slang’]

(UK Und.) to wrench off door-knockers.

1857		‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue 36: ‘Teeth drawing;’ wrenching knockers off. Gen.
1864		London Standard 13 Dec. 3/3: Among the words that fast society has borrowed [...] Drawing Teeth, wrenching off knockers.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 84: Teeth Drawing, wrenching off knockers.
1935		R.T. Hopkins Life and Death at the Old Bailey 63: The following crook’s words and phrases date from the days of the old Old Bailey: [...] wrenching off knockers – drawing teeth.

give skin-teeth (v.) [fig. use of ‘the skin of one’s teeth’ to mean superficiality] (W.I.)

1. to smile falsely when one actually feels furious or embittered.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

2. to laugh cynically.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

give teeth (v.)

to smile.

1995

J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 66: Then sudden he cleared his mind. Gave it teeth.

have one’s back teeth afloat (v.) (also have one’s back teeth awash, ...back teeth under (water), ...one’s teeth swimming)(orig. US)

1. to be very drunk.

[1546		J. Heywood Proverbs II Ch. ix: A syr, I see, ye may see no greene cheese, / But your teeth muste water. A good coknay coke].
1874		Eau Clare Wkly Free Press (WI) 20 Aug. 3/7: Three Scandinavians, with back teeth afloat, from the effects of too much benzene.
1882		G.W. Peck Peck’s Sunshine 248: Candidate for office so Full of Bug Juice that His Back Teeth are Afloat.
1891		Altoona trib. (PA) 7 Mar. 2/2: He spends most of his time [...] loading up and occasionally meanders into the hall with his back teeth afloat.
1903		Hull Dly Mail 3 Sept. 5/3: Any one who has taken too much wine has his ‘back teeth awash’.
1909		H. Lawson ‘The Horse-and-Cart Ferry’ in Roderick (1967–9 II) 297: By the Drunk’s Boat — that’s right — / On a Saturday night / He would often be past being merry; / With his back teeth afloat / On the twelve o’clock boat, / And a spectacle there on a ferry.
1920		E. Blair in College Days (Eton) 4 1 Apr. in Complete Works X (1998) 65: A bunch of ugly-looking muts [...] shouting like Mexicans with their back teeth under.
1933		‘William Juniper’ True Drunkard’s Delight 225: Our tippler [...] has a guest in the attic, his back teeth well afloat, or teeth under.
1941		B. Schulberg What Makes Sammy Run? (1992) 3: You’re drunk, Al. Your teeth are swimming.
2003		Drunktionary 🌐 Buoyant – High, happy. Or, because one’s teeth are floating (cf. ‘Back teeth afloat’).

2. (also have one’s kidneys floating) to be desperate to urinate.

1914		J.C. Ruppenthal ‘A Word-List From Kansas’ in DN IV:ii 102: back teeth under water, phr. Descriptive of distress from fullness of the bladder.
1923		DN V 200: Back teeth’s a-floatin’ [...] To express painful fullness of the bladder.
1935		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 595: And, say, are my kidneys floating?
1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 68: I can’t hold it, my back teeth are floating!
1961		H. Ellison ‘High Dice’ in Gentleman Junkie 87: We’d been in there [i.e. the lavatory] a good twenty-five minutes [...] and everybody’s back teeth were probably floating.
1986		R. Campbell In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 86: ‘My kidneys are floatin’,’ Canaan said. He got up and walked down the tiles to the toilets.
2000		P. Howard Miseducation of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (2004) 76: I head off to the can. After six or seven Britneys, the old back teeth are floating.

have one’s back teeth underground (v.)

to have eaten to satiation or excess.

1937–84

Partridge DSUE (1984) 37: (—1913).

have sand in one’s teeth (v.)

(Aus.) to be extremely angry.

1889

Dead Bird (Sydney) 30 Nov. 7/1: ‘Sand in the teeth’ is a new phrase for the man who is fighting mad.

not pick one’s teeth (v.) (also unpick one’s teeth)

(W.I.) to make no comment, to stay absolutely silent, to say nothing.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

punish one’s teeth (v.)

see under punish v.

scribble one’s teeth (v.)

(US black) to talk; to preach.

2000

Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 tooth scribblin Definition: to talk, preach. Example: Yo Greasy, get the hell out my step ’fo I start slippin, hear my tooth scribblin flip?

strip teeth and bite (v.)

see under strip v.

throw one’s teeth (v.)

to speak.

1864

Derby Day 42: ‘Throw your teeth at a stuffed donkey,’ exclaimed the trainer. ‘Don’t you talk to me; I’m all there, don’t you make a mistake, guv’nor.’.

In exclamations

in your teeth!

a dismissive rejoinder.

1695		Congreve Love for Love II i: sir sampson: By the horns of the moon, you would say, Brother Capricorn. foresight: Capricorn in your teeth, thou modern Man-devil.
1738		Swift Polite Conversation 15: nev.: Miss, what spells B double uzzard? miss: Buzzard in your Teeth, Mr. Neverout.
1839		Lytton Tragedy of Count Alarcos IV i: Ass in thy teeth, comrade, and no more on’t.
1880		Henley & Stevenson Deacon Brodie I tab.III iii: rivers: You lie! brodie: In your teeth.

keep your teeth!

calm down!

1858

A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 284: Keep your teeth. Didn’t I promise you supper? Now, sharp and cut to Stonehenge.