blade

[ bleyd ]
See synonyms for blade on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the flat cutting part of a sword, knife, etc.

  2. a sword, rapier, or the like.

  1. 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.

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

  3. Botany.

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

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

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

  5. a thin, flat part of something, as of an oar or a bone: shoulder blade.

  6. 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.

  7. Phonetics.

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

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

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

  9. a swordsman.

  10. Archaic. a dashing, swaggering, or jaunty young man: a gay blade from the nearby city.

Origin of blade

1
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 blow3

Other words from blade

  • blade·less, adjective
  • mul·ti·blade, noun
  • un·blade, verb (used with object), un·blad·ed, un·blad·ing.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for blade

blade

/ (bleɪd) /


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

  2. (plural) Australian and NZ hand shears used for shearing sheep

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

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

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

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

  5. the metal runner on an ice skate

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

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

  8. archaic a dashing or swaggering young man

  9. short for shoulder blade

  10. a poetic word for a sword, swordsman

Origin of blade

1
Old English blæd; related to Old Norse blath leaf, Old High German blat, Latin folium leaf

Derived forms of blade

  • bladed, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for blade

blade

[ blād ]


    • The expanded part of a leaf or petal. Also called lamina See more at leaf.

    • The leaf of grasses and similar plants.

  1. 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.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.