Knife
noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A utensil or a tool designed for cutting, consisting of a flat piece of hard material, usually steel or other metal (the blade), usually sharpened on one edge, attached to a handle. The blade may be pointed for piercing.
"He was looking for a knife to chop some steak."
- 2 edge tool used as a cutting instrument; has a pointed blade with a sharp edge and a handle wordnet
- 3 A weapon designed with the aforementioned specifications intended for slashing or stabbing but too short to be called a sword; a dagger.
- 4 a weapon with a handle and blade with a sharp point wordnet
- 5 Any blade-like part in a tool or a machine designed for cutting, such as that of a chipper.
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- 6 any long thin projection that is transient wordnet
- 1 To cut with a knife. transitive
- 2 use a knife on wordnet
- 3 To use a knife to injure or kill by stabbing, slashing, or otherwise using the sharp edge of the knife as a weapon. transitive
"She was repeatedly knifed in the chest."
- 4 To cut through as if with a knife. intransitive
"The boat knifed through the water."
- 5 To betray, especially in the context of a political slate. transitive
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- 6 To positively ignore, especially in order to denigrate; compare cut. transitive
Example
More examples"This knife was very useful to me."
Etymology
From Middle English knyf, knif, from late Old English cnīf, from Old Norse knífr, from Proto-Germanic *knībaz, from *knīpaną (“to pinch”), Proto-Indo-European *gneybʰ- (compare Lithuanian gnýbti, žnýbti (“to pinch”), gnaibis (“pinching”)). Displaced native Middle English sax (“knife”) from Old English seax; and Middle English coutel, qwetyll (“knife”) from Old French coutel. The verb knife is attested since the 1860s; the variant knive is attested since 1733. Cognates Cognate with Yola kunnife (“knife”), North Frisian knif (“knife”), Dutch knijf (“long pointy knife, poniard”), German Knifte (“rifle; thick slicebread”), German Low German Knief (“knife”), Luxembourgish Knäip (“paring knife”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk kniv (“knife”), Faroese knívur (“knife”), Icelandic hnífur, knífur (“knife”), Swedish knif, kniv (“knife”).