vagina dentata

Definition

The mythical toothed vagina; often related to castration anxiety.

Etymology

First attested 1908, from Latin vagina + dentata (“toothed”); popularized chiefly by Sigmund Freud.

Example Sentences

• "This notion also associates the vampire more directly with the primal uncanny. The long quotation that Moretti uses from Marie Bonaparte's writings on Edgar Allen^([sic]) Poe includes reference to the mythical vagina dentata, the ‘strange’ notion that the vagina ‘is furnished with teeth, and thus a source of danger in being able to bite and castrate’."
• "My relationship towards tulips is inherently Lynchian. I think they are disgusting. Just imagine. Aren't these some kind of, how do you call it, vagina dentata, dental vaginas threatening to swallow you?"
• "Perhaps one of the most recognizable and acknowledged contemporary images of vagina dentata appears in Ridley Scott's Alien (1979). […] Indeed, Gieger^([sic]) himself wanted the creature to be an embodiment of the fear of rape, making it a perfect match for the film."