hound's tooth

¹

noun

1. a pattern of broken or jagged checks, used on a variety of fabrics.

hound's-tooth

²

[ houndz-tooth ]

adjective

1. woven or printed with a pattern of broken or jagged checks:

   a hound's-tooth jacket.

Word History and Origins

Origin of hound's tooth¹

First recorded in 1935–40

Origin of hound's tooth²

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

To earn it the investigators must appear every day to be clean as a hound’s tooth.

From Wall Street Journal

While waiting on approval to become a nonprofit organization, Parsons met Kat Carter, who is a certified dog trainer and owner of Hound’s Tooth Academy for Dogs in Lexington.

From Washington Times

President deeply disturbed at newspaper report of your golf score, insists that anyone connected with his administration be as clean as a hound's tooth.

From Golf Digest

And since that time the game has been as clean as a hound’s tooth.

From Project Gutenberg

He was a cattle magnate of the modern sort; a big, viking-looking man, with a Yale degree, and with a record as clean as a hound's tooth.

From Project Gutenberg