teat

noun

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\ ˈtit

, ˈtēt

Definition of teat

1 : the protuberance through which milk is drawn from an udder or breast : nipple

2 : a small projection or a nib (as on a mechanical part)

Other Words from teat Example Sentences Learn More About teat

Examples of teat in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Within a month they are no longer permanently attached to the teat. — Anthony Ham, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Nov. 2021 And when the camera drifts over the hay toward a lone piglet that’s yet to find its way to a teat and, soon after, Gunda lands on that piglet with an unforgiving hoof — more cries. — K. Austin Collins, Rolling Stone, 17 Apr. 2021 As a farmyard pig who has just had a litter, Gunda has a tag through her ear and a hungry, needy little mouth clamped to every teat. — Jessica Kiang, Los Angeles Times, 15 Apr. 2021 One of the more puzzling developments in states’ rights conservatism has been the combination of don’t-tread-on-me militancy with a determination to keep sucking on the federal teat. — Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 19 Mar. 2021 Utica licking a can, Utica sucking on cow teat, and Utica dressed like Sasha Velour spent six months on the Manson Family ranch. — Paul Mccallion, Vulture, 19 Mar. 2021 The parish, in a town called Calbe, had removed for restoration a sculpture of a Jew suckling at a pig’s teat, but then decided to retire it altogether. — Jasper Bastian, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Sep. 2020 And Oracle, which has been sucking at the government’s teat since its earliest days, will never be a consumer company, though its opportunism to grab grubbily at the political moment is unparalleled. — Adam Lashinsky, Fortune, 14 Sep. 2020 The titular son of Son of the White Mare suckles at the teat of the titular horse for 14 years. — Jason Kehe, Wired, 21 Aug. 2020 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'teat.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for teat

Middle English tete, teet "nipple of a human or animal, woman's breast," borrowed from Anglo-French tete (also continental Old French), either borrowed from West Germanic *tittōn- or an independent Romance formation, both of nursery origin — more at tit entry 1