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knife
[ nahyf ]
noun
- an instrument for cutting, consisting essentially of a thin, sharp-edged, metal blade fitted with a handle.
- a knifelike weapon; dagger or short sword.
- any blade for cutting, as in a tool or machine.
verb (used with object)
- to apply a knife to; cut, stab, etc., with a knife.
- to attempt to defeat or undermine in a secret or underhanded way.
verb (used without object)
- to move or cleave through something with or as if with a knife:
The ship knifed through the heavy seas.
knife
/ naɪf /
noun
- a cutting instrument consisting of a sharp-edged often pointed blade of metal fitted into a handle or onto a machine
- a similar instrument used as a weapon
- have one's knife in someoneto have a grudge against or victimize someone
- twist the knifeto make a bad situation worse in a deliberately malicious way
- the knives are out for someonepeople are determined to harm or put a stop to someone
the knives are out for Stevens
- under the knifeundergoing a surgical operation
verb
- to cut, stab, or kill with a knife
- to betray, injure, or depose in an underhand way
Derived Forms
- ˈknifeˌlike, adjective
- ˈknifer, noun
Other Words From
- knifelike adjective
- knifer noun
Word History and Origins
Origin of knife1
Word History and Origins
Origin of knife1
Idioms and Phrases
- under the knife, in surgery; undergoing a medical operation:
The patient was under the knife for four hours.
More idioms and phrases containing knife
see at gunpoint (knifepoint) ; under the knife ; you could cut it with a knife .Example Sentences
Anything that quickens the movement of money will have far-reaching effects at a time when businesses exist on a solvency knife edge.
Such people could have been harmed by a knife, spear or arrow, Broehl explains.
For knives that I’m going to carry in a pocket or on my belt, I find that the sweet spot in blade length is between three and four inches.
This arrangement helps prevent your knife from snagging on things like seat belts, doors, or bags, helping ensure that the knife doesn’t fall out of your pocket.
A knife is a tool, and the right tool is determined by the job you’re asking it to perform.
I took out my knife, my Ka-Bar, and knocked his teeth out, but they fell into his throat.
He had a special knife designed to cut the dense loaf, and a ceremony to precede cutting the cake.
Wielding a curved knife, a young man navigates past the aging structures and into the forest.
But in the next instant, Peters is stepping back to the table and snatching up the knife.
“Stand the f--- away from the knife right now, man,” the cop says.
Pearson flung his knife and fork at it, having forgotten to drop those light weapons when he leaped up.
Black Sheep looked up at Harry's throat and then at a knife on the dinner-table.
A knife would hurt, but Aunty Rosa had told him, a year ago, that if he sucked paint he would die.
The servant-girl came up from the kitchen, took the knife away, and consoled him.
Black Sheep sat at the bottom of the stairs, the table-knife in his hand, and wept for that he had not killed Harry.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from 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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