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English to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
English term or phrase:tooth of time
Can expressions "tooth of time" or "tooth of decay" be used to explan how something deteriorated due to the passage of time? If not, is there an idiom with the same meaning? I need something more picturesque than plain "wear and tear".
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 23 mins (2011-02-13 09:11:32 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
"ravage" -plunder, devastation, ruin from Latin "rapere" to seize, snatch, bear away. The word "ravage" was esp. used of the devastation caused by storms and torrents (SKEAT, 1879).
"razure" has a similar meaning but is now I think defunct.
I apologize for not being more specific in the first place. It is a description of a house and its furnishings which, although once very nice and elegant, now, several decades later, are showing signs of deterioration. And yes, the reference to tooth is important as a link to something else in the text. After I posted the question, my daughter (this is for her essay) and I found the expression "gnawing tooth of decay" and though that this might fit.
Diana has put us in our places by pointing out that we're rejecting Mr S!! But of course it's a matter of whether this works in this context - and since we don`t have the context.....
Is there something important in you reference to teeth? Are you perhaps looking for "long in the tooth"? This refers to people or animals who are old. The origin is in horses' teeth, which keep growing all their lives.
No, this doesn't work in English. Is there any chance of knowing what it is that is deteriorating. We really need most of your proposed sentence so that we can see that it all fits together - the collocations are very important. The verb to be used together with whatever we choose for "wear and tear" needs to be considered too.
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Answers
14 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +7
yes (Shakespeare) or use "ravages"
Explanation: It is a quotation from Hamlet, or you could use "ravages of time", which is a slightly different image.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 15 mins (2011-02-13 09:03:43 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
A forted residence 'gainst the tooth of time And razure of oblivion. -Measure for Measure. Act v. Sc. 1.
Sorry, it wasn't Hamlet
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 18 mins (2011-02-13 09:06:21 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 23 mins (2011-02-13 09:11:32 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
"ravage" -plunder, devastation, ruin from Latin "rapere" to seize, snatch, bear away. The word "ravage" was esp. used of the devastation caused by storms and torrents (SKEAT, 1879).
"razure" has a similar meaning but is now I think defunct.
British Diana Germany Local time: 03:11 Meets criteria Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 4
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +7