knife

[nahyf]

noun

plural

knives 

1. an instrument for cutting, consisting essentially of a thin, sharp-edged, metal blade fitted with a handle.

2. a knifelike weapon; dagger or short sword.

3. any blade for cutting, as in a tool or machine.

verb (used with object)

knifed, knifing 

1. to apply a knife to; cut, stab, etc., with a knife.

2. to attempt to defeat or undermine in a secret or underhanded way.

verb (used without object)

knifed, knifing 

1. to move or cleave through something with or as if with a knife.

   The ship knifed through the heavy seas.

knife

/ naɪf /

noun

1. a cutting instrument consisting of a sharp-edged often pointed blade of metal fitted into a handle or onto a machine

2. a similar instrument used as a weapon

3. to have a grudge against or victimize someone

4. to make a bad situation worse in a deliberately malicious way

5. people are determined to harm or put a stop to someone

   the knives are out for Stevens

6. undergoing a surgical operation

verb

1. to cut, stab, or kill with a knife

2. to betray, injure, or depose in an underhand way

Other Word Forms

• knifelike adjective
• knifer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of knife¹

before 1100; Middle English knif, Old English cnīf; cognate with Dutch knijf, German Kneif, Old Norse knīfr

Word History and Origins

Origin of knife¹

Old English cnīf; related to Old Norse knīfr, Middle Low German knīf

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. under the knife, in surgery; undergoing a medical operation.

   The patient was under the knife for four hours.

see at gunpoint (knifepoint); under the knife; you could cut it with a knife.

Example Sentences

So I had to figure out, clumsily, how to maintain the knife.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The Restore 3 is a sleeper’s Swiss Army knife, with a variety of white noise and other ambient sounds, along with gentle lighting to ease you into—and out of—your bed.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

So often England have arrived in Australia armed only with knives for a gunfight.

Read more on BBC

In Hollister, underage siblings use sharp knives to cut and clean heirloom apricots that dry in the hot sun.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

A 19-year-old Syrian went on trial in Berlin on Thursday over a knife attack on a Spanish tourist at the German capital's Holocaust memorial days before February's general election.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• bayonet 
• blade 
• cutter 
• dagger 
• machete 
• scalpel 
• sickle 
• skewer 
• sword