Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to detusk

to detusk

9.9
To remove the long front teeth of animals like elephants or rhinos
  • verb
  • /dɪˈtʌsk/
  • NSFW
translation icon : desmochar
  • Wildlife officials had to detusk the elephant to prevent further aggression.

Examples

  • Some conservation programs aim to detusk rhinos to protect them from poachers.

  • The team detusked several elephants last year.

  • The veterinarian carefully detusked the injured boar as part of the treatment.

  • They decided to detusk the elephant for safety reasons.

  • The wildlife sanctuary decided to detusk the aggressive elephant to ensure the safety of visitors.

  • Veterinarians sometimes need to detusk elephants to reduce the risk of poaching and decrease aggressive behavior.

  • In order to protect the herd, the conservationists chose to detusk the older male elephant.

Synonyms

to tusk
vsto detusk
9.6

To cut out the long pointed teeth from an animal, often for illegal trade

focuses mainly on elephants rather than covering other species

Surface Forms

detusk infinitive
detusked past
detusked past participle
detusking present participle
detusks third person singular

Morphology

detusk = tusk (transparent) = de + tusk

The prefix 'de-' clearly means removal here, so 'detusk' straightforwardly means to remove tusks.

Etymology

The word detusk is formed from the part de- meaning 'remove' and tusk, the long tooth of some animals. So to detusk an animal is to take away its tusks.