Dictionary

dentistical en · ADJ

Etymology

From dentist + -ical.

Meanings

1. Resembling, or relating to, a dentist.
   • And yet even the crocodile likes to have his teeth cleaned; insects get into them, and, horrible reptile though he be, he opens his jaws inoffensively to a faithful dentistical bird, who volunteers his beak for a toothpick. 1853, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, My Novel, or Varieties in English Life:
   • To know that he is always keeping a secret from her; that he has, under all circumstances, to conceal and hold fast a tender double tooth, which her sharpness is ever ready to twist out of his head; gives Mr. Snagsby, in her dentistical presence, much of the air of a dog who has a reservation from his master and will look anywhere rather than meet his eye. 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:
   • Some of them have little boxes of dentistical-looking implements, specially intended for the skrimshandering business. 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:

Forms