Word Meaning
ख़स-ब-दंदाँ
khas-ba-dandāñ
Meaning
Holding straw between teeth; humbled, silenced, or expressing helplessness and awe.
Detailed Meaning
Literally meaning holding a blade of dry grass or straw between one's teeth, this idiom denotes profound helplessness, submission, or struck-dumb amazement. Traditionally, placing straw in the mouth symbolized asking for quarter or acknowledging defeat. In the couplet, silence is personified as holding the roots of a hundred reed-beds in its teeth, paralyzed by boundless lamentation.
Etymology
Persian compound of 'khas' (straw, dry grass) + preposition 'ba' (with/in) + 'dandān' (tooth).
Usage
In classical Urdu poetry, it evokes an extreme state of awe or powerless resignation, echoing the cultural trope of submission.
Examples
Struck with wonder, the helpless onlooker stood with straw between his teeth.
Before fate, silence itself remained humbled with straw between its teeth.