couteau

American  

[koo-toh] / kuˈtoʊ /

noun

couteaux plural

1. a knife, especially a large double-edged one formerly carried as a weapon.

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couteau British  

/ kuːˈtəʊ /

noun

1. a large two-edged knife used formerly as a weapon

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• couteaux
  plural

Etymology

Origin of couteau

1670–80; < French; Old French coutel < Latin cultellus; see cultellus

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

couteau couteaux

"And is he as ready with the gun as with the couteau?" said Sir William.

From The Bride of Lammermoor by Scott, Walter, Sir

For the matter of that, Louis, we could cut them with your couteau de chaise.

From Lost in the Backwoods by Traill, Catharine Parr Strickland

With the couteau croche, the crooked knife of the North, Dick laboured slowly, fashioning with care the long tamarack strips.

From The Silent Places by White, Stewart Edward

A curiously-formed ridge—a couteau des prairies, on a small scale—traversed the plain from east to west.

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine No. XVI.?September, 1851?Vol. III. by Various

There is usually a coup de couteau before the season ends.

From Italian Letters of a Diplomat's Life January-May, 1880; February-April, 1904 by Waddington, Mary Alsop King

Marmontel says they were often à couteaux tirés; and this, not metaphorically but literally.

From The Romance of Biography (Vol 2 of 2) or Memoirs of Women Loved and Celebrated by Poets, from the Days of the Troubadours to the Present Age. 3rd ed. 2 Vols. by Jameson, Mrs. (Anna)

When we were all ready to shove off, "Lafont," he said, "are the men ready with their couteaux?"

From Tom Cringle's Log by Scott, Michael