sweet tooth, (to have) a

A propensity and preference for eating sugary foods. If you're looking for a snack, go talk to Jenny—she has a real sweet tooth, so she probably keeps candy bars in her desk. Because I don't have much of a sweet tooth, I get more excited about entrees than desserts.

A love for sugary foods, as in You can always please Nell with cake or ice cream; she has a big sweet tooth. This expression dates from the late 1300s, although it then referred not only to sweets but other delicacies as well.

COMMON If you have a sweet tooth, you like eating things that taste of sugar. She has a sweet tooth for chocolate cake and cookies. For those without a sweet tooth, savoury snacks are also available.

A love for sugary foods. This seemingly modern expression goes back to the sixteenth century, although it did not always refer exclusively to carbohydrate goodies. “Thou hast . . . a sweet tooth in thy head, a liquorish appetite to delicate meats and intoxicating wines,” wrote Thomas Adams in a sermon of 1629.