dagger
[dag-er]
- a short, swordlike weapon with a pointed blade and a handle, used for stabbing.
- Also called obelisk. Printing. a mark (†) used especially for references.
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- to stab with or as if with a dagger.
- Printing. to mark with a dagger.
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- look daggers at, to look at angrily, threateningly, or with hate.
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Origin of dagger
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for dagger
Contemporary Examples
As soon as he sees her, Shae reaches for a dagger, and Tyrion pounces on her, strangling her to death with her own necklace.
Life After ‘Game of Thrones’ Death: Where to See Your Favorite Dead Characters NextMarlow Stern
June 18, 2014
The dagger tattooed on his cheek conveys a menacing persona.
A rapier and a dagger found on the Thames foreshore show us that swordfights routinely broke out on the streets of London.
Worse, the court could stick a dagger right in the heart of the Buckley framework and undo all contribution limits.
It was ‘like a dagger to his heart and he hasn’t got over it.
Historical Examples
Mr Clayton was pushing me forward, and urging a dagger into my hand.
Yet his heart still seemed to fester with the venom of the dagger.
Fancy's Show-Box (From "Twice Told Tales")Nathaniel Hawthorne
Wiglaf stabs the dragon from underneath, and Bewulf cuts it in two with his dagger.
BeowulfUnknown
The stranger drew out his dagger, cut the meat, and they all ate in company.
The Chinese Fairy BookVarious
But you can cut off a vine-branch with a dagger or with a chisel, and in many other ways?
The RepublicPlato
dagger
- a short stabbing weapon with a pointed blade
- Also called: obelisk a character (†) used in printing to indicate a cross reference, esp to a footnote
- at daggers drawn in a state of open hostility
- look daggers to glare with hostility; scowl
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- to mark with a dagger
- archaic to stab with a dagger
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Word Origin
C14: of uncertain origin
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
Word Origin and History for dagger
n.
late 14c., apparently from Old French dague "dagger," from Old Provençal dague or Italian daga, of uncertain origin; perhaps Celtic, perhaps from Vulgar Latin *daca "Dacian knife," from the Roman province in modern Romania. The ending is possibly the faintly pejorative -ard suffix. Attested earlier (1279) as a surname (Dagard, presumably "one who carried a dagger"). Middle Dutch dagge, Danish daggert, German Degen also are from French.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with dagger
dagger
In addition to the idiom beginning with daggers
- daggers drawn, at
also see:
- look daggers
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.