# fangful
## English
### Etymology 1

From fang +‎ -ful (“possessing”).

#### Adjective

fangful (comparative more fangful, superlative most fangful)
* Having sharp or menacing fangs.
    Synonyms: fangsome, fangy
** 1893, Dante Alighieri, translated by George Musgrave, The Divine Comedy‎, page 37:Cerberus, soon as our adit he espied, Quivering in every limb for anger, wide Opened his fangful mouths, and at us gnasht.
** 1982, David Hazard, “The Tale of a Bird”, in Stories, Songs, and Poems from The Peaceable Kingdom‎, page 26:The cat was curled in a soft armchair close by the fire. She yawned a fangful yawn, stretched her claws and sat up.
** 1989, L. Sprague de Camp, The Honorable Barbarian‎, page 45:As Kerin came abreast of the reptile, the lizard opened its eyes, looked around, and rose on stumpy legs. It swiveled about to face Kerin, scattering sand; it opened fangful jaws and hissed like a kettle.
** For more quotations using this term, see Citations:fangful.
* (idiomatic) Cruel or venomous.
** 1872, Casca Llanna, Love, Woman, Marriage: The Grand Secret!‎, page 283:Such a woman's affectional demonstrations, if not wholly vampiral, would be a wide departure from the truth ; would not be really human, but snakish, fangful, Judas-like, because utterly and wholly empty of all genuine heartness, that ineffable delight man sighs for and expects.
** 1913, John Galen Howard, Brunelleschi: A Poem‎, page 73:That have lookt forward to a dawning sweet, Upon my tongue they have been bitter. Oh, I drained the cup of scorn in those old days When laughter and detraction followed me From fangful packs of snarlers, e'er and aye
** 2006, Ernestine D. Harris, Dancing with Fireflies‎, page 122:Often the Crane Dame and a few others like her were fangful, seemingly garbed in witches' outfits and spitting venom whenever I was in their presence.
** For more quotations using this term, see Citations:fangful.

### Etymology 2

From fang +‎ -ful (“suffix forming nouns denoting an amount”).

#### Noun

fangful (plural fangfuls)
* An amount (of venom) sufficient to fill a fang.
** 1986, Bhabani Bhattacharya, A Goddess Named Gold‎, page 21:With a howl of pain he grabbed the evil thing by the tail before it could sneak away. A big black cobra with its fangful of venom.
** 2020, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, A Secret of Birds & Bone‎, unnumbered page:She lunged then, faster than Orsa had, something black and terrible in her face like a serpent about to unleash a fangful of venom.
** 2021, Brian Staveley, The Empire's Ruin‎, unnumbered page:Not long after that, something fast and cool plunged a fangful of venom into his wrist, then slipped over the side of the boat with a gentle plop before he could get a good look at it.
** For more quotations using this term, see Citations:fangful.
* An amount sufficient to fill a fanged creature's mouth.
** 1998, Steve Sherman, Julia Older, “On the Appalachian Trail”, in Michael P. Branch, Daniel J. Philippon, editors, The Height of Our Mountains: Nature Writing from Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley‎, page 302:We heard how two copperheads line each side of the Frail to bite hikers as they pass, assuring at least one of the snakes a fangful.
** 2010, Carole Nelson Douglas, Silver Zombie‎, page 349:And down the dark and twisting clouds came a foggy stream of running wolves with luminous eyes, Quicksilver at their forefront, snapping at the head of the Wendigo, biting it away in airy fangfuls.
** 2015, Claire Barker, Ghost Dog‎, page 65:Looking shiftily about, her eight eyes glittering like pewter sequins, she grabbed a fangful of crumbs.
** For more quotations using this term, see Citations:fangful.