blade

American  

[bleyd] / bleɪd /

noun

1. the flat cutting part of a sword, knife, etc.

2. a sword, rapier, or the like.

3. a part of a tool or mechanism which is thin and flat with a tapered edge, used for clearing, wiping, scraping, etc..

   the blade of a windshield wiper;

   the blade of a bulldozer.

4. the arm of a propeller or other similar rotary mechanism, as an electric fan or turbine.

5. Botany.

   1. the leaf of a plant, especially of a grass or cereal.

   2. the broad part of a leaf, as distinguished from the stalk or petiole.

6. the metal part of an ice skate that comes into contact with the ice.

7. a thin, flat part of something, as of an oar or a bone.

   shoulder blade.

8. a prosthetic lower leg, primarily for athletes, ending in a curved strip of flexible carbon fiber that acts as an ankle and foot, allowing running and jumping.

9. Phonetics.

   1. the foremost and most readily flexible portion of the tongue, including the tip and implying the upper and lower surfaces and edges.

   2. the upper surface of the tongue directly behind the tip, lying beneath the alveolar ridge when the tongue is in a resting position.

10. the elongated hind part of a fowl's single comb.

11. a swordsman.

12. Archaic.  a dashing, swaggering, or jaunty young man.

    a gay blade from the nearby city.

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blade British  

/ bleɪd /

noun

1. the part of a sharp weapon, tool, etc, that forms the cutting edge

2. (plural) hand shears used for shearing sheep

3. the thin flattish part of various tools, implements, etc, as of a propeller, turbine, etc

4. the flattened expanded part of a leaf, sepal, or petal

5. the long narrow leaf of a grass or related plant

6. the striking surface of a bat, club, stick, or oar

7. the metal runner on an ice skate

8. archaeol a long thin flake of flint, possibly used as a tool

9. the upper part of the tongue lying directly behind the tip

10. archaic  a dashing or swaggering young man

11. short for shoulder blade

12. a poetic word for a sword swordsman

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blade Scientific  

/ blād /

1. 1. The expanded part of a leaf or petal.

   2. The leaf of grasses and similar plants.

2. A stone tool consisting of a slender, sharp-edged, unserrated flake that is at least twice as long as it is wide. Blade tools were developed late in the stone tool tradition, after core and flake tools, and were probably used especially as knives.

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Other Word Forms

• bladed adjective
• bladeless adjective
• multiblade noun
• unblade verb (used with object)

Etymology

Origin of blade

First recorded before 1000; Middle English blad(e), blaid “leaf, blade (of a plant or sword)”; Old English blæd “blade (of grass or an oar)”; cognate with Dutch blad, Old Norse blath, German Blatt; akin to blow ³

Example Sentences

Machines strip the insulation material off the copper, then use blades to chop and shred it into granules a few millimeters long, sometimes known as ‘copper chops.’

From The Wall Street Journal

With a pot of glue, a blade and a keen eye, Manal al-Saadani repairs tattered banknotes -- a necessity in the Gaza Strip, where the cash in circulation is wearing out.

From Barron's

Union official Ahmed Saih, who represents prison officers at the jail, told AFP on Thursday that the inmates used "old-fashioned, manual saw blades".

From Barron's

Its rosewood handle and rectangular blade have transformed the way I cook and even the way I live.

From The Wall Street Journal

“They weigh 30 tons and have up to 18-foot blades and can bury smoldering fuels and expose new fuels, which can create new hazards and place firefighters at risk.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• knife
• sword