grow teeth

v. phr. in golf, (said of a course or hole) to become difficult; generally, to increase in importance or effect. Subjects: English, Golf, Sports & Recreation, Slang

Editorial Note: The Oxford English Dictionary has a sense under tooth “pl. denoting the ability to compel or enforce, esp. by the exaction of penalties, etc.” dating to 1925.

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Citations: 1982 Hans Fantel New York Times (Aug. 29) “Sound; Home Taping. The Legal Issue Comes To A Boil”: If the law grows teeth, either by the power of taxation or by outlawing home taping, it could curtail the sale and import of cassette recorders and parts for their repair, thus bringing this rapidly growing field to a virtual halt. 1986 Bog Green @ Ponte Vedra, Florida (Associated Press) (Mar. 28): After meekly relinquishing a 65—and a record—to Bob Murphy and 7-under-par scores to a couple of others, the golf course grew teeth. 1988 Jonathan R. Laing Barron’s (Oct. 17) “The Crash—One Year Later: In the Pits —How One Options Dealer Blew $9 Million”: A mysterious Taiwanese-born floor trader, Hwalin Lee, singlehandedly cost another CBOE clearing firm more than $50 million in a huge short position in S&P 100 puts that exploded into the money even before Oct. 19. In traders’ jargon, the puts “grew teeth.” 1991 Steve Hershey USA Today (Mar. 4) “Nicklaus hopeful something in wind” p. 2C: The Monster grew teeth today.…It was very testy and I tried to force a few shots that didn’t come off. 1991 Jon Roe Star-Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota) (June 12) “Players still sweet on No. 16” p. 1C: The 16th can change character daily. It can be relatively benign if there’s no wind blowing. But put a breeze in the golfer’s face and the 16th grows teeth. The lake and a big tree at the corner of the slight bend come into play on the right side of the tee. 2006 Barry Glendenning Guardian (United Kingdom) (July 20) “The Open—live!”: Mickelson taps in for par on the 9th to finish the front nine on -3. Meanwhile on the 11th, John Daly puts his considerable weight behind an effort to slash out of knee-high rough. It’s a great effort, but “grows teeth,” as they say in America, and comes to a stand-still a couple of inches short of the dancefloor.

Posted 26 Jul 06 | Permalink | Tell a Friend