EXAMPLES | WORD ORIGIN | IDIOMS noun a short, swordlike weapon with a pointed blade and a handle, used for stabbing.
Also called obelisk . Printing a mark (†) used especially for references. verb (used with object) to stab with or as if with a dagger.
Printing to mark with a dagger.
Idioms look daggers at , to look at angrily, threateningly, or with hate.
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Origin of dagger 1350–1400; Middle English, probably alteration of
Old French dague, of obscure origin; cf.
dag1 Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Related Words for dagger blade ,
bayonet ,
sword ,
cutlass ,
poniard ,
stylet ,
switchblade ,
stiletto ,
bodkin ,
dirk ,
anlace ,
sidearm ,
skean Examples from the Web for dagger Contemporary Examples of dagger As soon as he sees her, Shae reaches for a dagger , and Tyrion pounces on her, strangling her to death with her own necklace.
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 of dagger 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 .
Wiglaf stabs the dragon from underneath, and Bewulf cuts it in two with his dagger .
The stranger drew out his dagger , cut the meat, and they all ate in company.
But you can cut off a vine-branch with a dagger or with a chisel, and in many other ways?
British Dictionary definitions for dagger noun 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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verb (tr) to mark with a dagger
archaic to stab with a dagger
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Word Origin for dagger 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 In addition to the idiom beginning with daggers
also see:
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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.
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