Sickle

/ˈsɪkl̩/ name, noun, verb

name, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An implement having a semicircular blade and short handle, used for cutting long grass and cereal crops.

    "Coordinate term: scythe"

  2. 2
    an edge tool for cutting grass or crops; has a curved blade and a short handle wordnet
  3. 3
    Anything resembling a sickle, especially:; A sickle faether, any of the sickle-shaped rear feathers of the domestic cock.
  4. 4
    Anything resembling a sickle, especially:; The crescent moon. poetic

    "Then, ere the silver sickle of that month Became her golden shield, I stole from court With Cyril and with Florian, unperceived."

Verb
  1. 1
    To cut with a sickle. rare, transitive

    "Near-synonyms: reap, mow"

  2. 2
    Of red blood cells: to assume an abnormal crescent shape. intransitive

    "Even the cells of heterozygotes will sickle if the oxygen tension is low enough."

  3. 3
    To deform (as with a red blood cell) into an abnormal crescent shape, to cause to sickle. transitive
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname from German.

Synonyms

All synonyms
reaping hookarc-shapedbladed weaponcrescentcrescentcrescent-shaped

Example

More examples

"The girls who go, sickle on their shoulders, to cut alfalfa for the rabbits."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English sikel (also assibilated in sichel), from Old English sicol, siċel, from Proto-West Germanic *sikilu, itself borrowed from Latin sēcula (“sickle”) or sīcīlis (“sickle”). Cognate with Dutch sikkel, German Sichel. Remotely related with English scythe and saw.

Etymology 2

Probably an Americanized form of German Sickel.

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