sweet tooth

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sweet tooth (plural sweet tooths)

1. (idiomatic, only in singular) A liking for foods that are sweet; a weakness for sweets.

   Coordinate terms: salty tooth, sour tooth, spicy tooth

   He eats a healthy diet most of the time, but has a sweet tooth when it comes to candy.

2. (idiomatic, countable) Someone with a liking for sweet foods.
3. An edible fungus of species Hydnum repandum.
4. A preference, especially for a kind of food.
   • 1913, Jewett Castello Gilson, Wealth of the World's Waste Places, and Oceania, page 298:

     the python has a sweet tooth for rats and mice and the sweet tooth of this particular snake is on edge for a square meal.

   • 2007 May 30, Joey Bunch, “Suburban pet peeve: coyotes”, in The Denver Post:

     Prowlers are on the loose in suburban Denver. Description: pointy ears, bushy tails and a sweet tooth for poodle and cat.

   • 2010, Tony Ardizzone, The Whale Chaser: A Novel, page 101:

     But my grandmother had, in my father's words, a "sweet tooth” for meat.

   • 2013, Kim Newlen, The One Year Sweet and Simple Moments with God Devotional, page 169:

     In the same way I developed a craving for doughnuts, my sweet tooth for God's Word developed by repetition.

   • 2014, John Maley, A Little Murder in Tucson, page 50:

     ".... She had a sweet tooth for booze." "Did she have a sweet tooth for drugs?"

   • 2022, Anthony M. Ludovici, Too Old for Dolls: A Novel:

     I have high hopes though, because mother always did have a sweet tooth for rather nice men, you see father was tremendously attractive.