α. 1700s hens teeth, 1800s– hen's teeth, 1800s– hens' teeth.
β. 1800s hen teeth.
hen's teethn.
/ˈhɛnz tiːθ/, U.S. /ˈhɛnz ˌtiθ/ 1.
a. As a type of something which is extremely rare, unattainable, or non-existent; a rarity. Also (esp. in early use): an imaginary item that a gullible person may be sent to find as a joke. Now chiefly U.S.
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the world > time > frequency > infrequency > [noun] > rare or occasional thing
strawberry preaching1548
hen's teeth1700
blue moon1821
gold dust1840
a sometime thing1935
1700 T. Brown Amusem. Serious & Comical iii. 27 I have a Parcel of..Hens-Teeth, Ell-Broad Pack-Thread, and the Quintescence of the Blue of Plumbs... The Greshamites buy up all these Rarities by Wholesale all the Year.
1728 Poor Robin's Almanack in Hull Packet 14 Sept.1883 Waggs..employ their sense In sending fools to get Intelligence! One seeks hens' teeth in farthest part of town, Another pigeon's milk.
1903 W. D. Nesbit in Ainslee's Mar. 78/2 I know they haven't any, but if I should open a hen's teeth store, I'd have the trade of every women in town within a week.
1962 Phoenix (Arizona) Republic 14 May 8/3 (advt.) Well, we found some hens' teeth for the lady. We set it up so that a modest but worthwhile amount went into her savings account..before she did her shopping.
2003 Fort Pierce (Florida) Tribune (Nexis) 1 Apr. d1 They might, for example, be sent on a ‘sleeveless errand’, a search for something that doesn't exist: hen's teeth, pigeon's milk, striped paint or a stick with one end.
b. Originally U.S. Used in various similative phrases. Esp. in (as) scarce (also rare) as hen's teeth, like hen's teeth: very rare.
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the world > relative properties > quantity > insufficiency > [phrase] > very scarce
(as) scarce (also rare) as hen's teeth1839
like hen's teeth1868
1839 Tennessee Whig (Elizabethton, Tennessee) 6 June Polk and Powell men, are as scarce in this quarter, as hen-teeth.
1868 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Daily Sentinel 16 May The exemptions under this law are like hens' teeth—few and far between.
1969 Times 12 June 3 (advt.) Stoppages are as rare as hen's teeth.
2001 Dressage June 20/4 Everyone told me they were like hen's teeth and I would never be able to buy one, let alone be given one.
2018 Grimsby Tel. (Nexis) 6 Dec. 35 A series of 2p pieces issued years ago but still perfectly current which being as rare as hen's teeth are worth considerably more than 2p.
2. Chiefly North American. Pieces of grit or gravel in the gizzard of domestic chickens, which aid the grinding of ingested food; (also) any gritty substance fed to poultry for this purpose. Now rare.
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1872 Poultry World Feb. 20/1 Hen's teeth [sic] comprise no incisors, nor canines, but are all grinders. The flattish or scaly gravel is not suitable.
1904 Poultry Oct. 15/1 The Mica Spar Grit people had a booth and gave away samples of hens' teeth to all comers.
1944 Ada (Okla.) Evening News 3 Aug. 4/1 (advt.) The best Hens' Teeth is Stonemo Granite Grit... Helps keep digestive tract working properly.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1700