Word: defang
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...chance that Mossadegh might steal the stage, nor had they settled on the punishment to be exacted. Theoretically, he could be condemned to death as a traitor. But in the streets, Mossadegh still commanded great popularity, and the Communist-led Tudeh (in spite of vigorous government efforts to defang it by throwing its leaders into jail) was busy last week cooking up sentiment for a pro-Mossadegh uprising. Those who feared that Mossadegh's wizardry might live after him were urging a secret trial, a death sentence and then a merciful commutation from the Shah which would send Mohammed...
...Fakirs who dally with venomous snakes take good care to defang them. "Wrong, very wrong. The crude, untutored Hindu may resort to this expedient, but it is not done in professional circles among American snake experts. You will note that I use the more dignified term-"experts." We resent the name "fakirs." We study the nature of our snakes and it is not necessary to "defang" them, not at all. You will note that I place myself among the "experts." Thirty years experience among the rattlers. A good line that? And I never had to "defang" one, except on special...
Fakirs who dally with venomous snakes take good care to defang them. The fangs are long, hollow teeth connecting with venom sacs in the snake's upper jaw. When the fangs puncture animal, fish or reptile the venom (in most snakes a yellowish fluid) is squeezed, like a hypodermic injection, into the victim's flesh. Hindus defang their serpents by searing the jaws with hot irons. Others rip the fangs out with pincers or flick a cloth at the snake's head until the fangs are caught in the cloth and yanked out. Defanged snakes quickly grow...