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Scythe

//ˈsaɪð// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An instrument for mowing grass, grain, etc. by hand, composed of a long, curving blade with a sharp concave edge, fastened to a long handle called a snath.

    "And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence."

  2. 2
    an edge tool for cutting grass; has a long handle that must be held with both hands and a curved blade that moves parallel to the ground wordnet
  3. 3
    A scythe-shaped blade attached to ancient war chariots. historical
  4. 4
    The tenth Lenormand card.
Verb
  1. 1
    To use a scythe. intransitive
  2. 2
    cut with a scythe wordnet
  3. 3
    To cut with a scythe. transitive
  4. 4
    To cut off as with a scythe; to mow. transitive
  5. 5
    To attack or injure as if cutting. figuratively, intransitive, often

    "The boy began to keen, and the high-pitched noise scythed through Song's head."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English sythe, sithe, from Old English sīþe, sīgþe, sigdi (“sickle”), from Proto-West Germanic *sigiþi, from Proto-Germanic *sigiþiz, *sigiþō, derived from *seg- (“saw”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”). Immediate Germanic cognates include Middle Low German sēgede, Dutch zicht, Icelandic sigð (all “sickle”). More distantly related with Dutch zeis, German Sense (both “scythe”). Also akin to English saw, which see. The silent c crept in during the early 15th century owing to pseudoetymological association with Medieval Latin scissor (“tailor, carver”), from Latin scindere (“to cut, rend, split”). The verb, which was first used in the intransitive sense, is from the noun.

Etymology 2

From Middle English sythe, sithe, from Old English sīþe, sīgþe, sigdi (“sickle”), from Proto-West Germanic *sigiþi, from Proto-Germanic *sigiþiz, *sigiþō, derived from *seg- (“saw”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”). Immediate Germanic cognates include Middle Low German sēgede, Dutch zicht, Icelandic sigð (all “sickle”). More distantly related with Dutch zeis, German Sense (both “scythe”). Also akin to English saw, which see. The silent c crept in during the early 15th century owing to pseudoetymological association with Medieval Latin scissor (“tailor, carver”), from Latin scindere (“to cut, rend, split”). The verb, which was first used in the intransitive sense, is from the noun.

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