paper knife
Americannoun
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a small, often decorative, knifelike instrument with a blade of metal, ivory, wood, or the like, for slitting open envelopes, the leaves of books, folded papers, etc.
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the blade of a paper cutter.
Etymology
Origin of paper knife
First recorded in 1800–10
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He found it quite easy to get around in Manhattan until he asked for a "paper knife."
From Time Magazine Archive
A discomfiting distinction between a "paper knife" and a "paper cutter."
From Time Magazine Archive
Then he took his ivory paper knife and carefully slit it open.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
When she had finished she was tired enough to gladly claim a rest while Portia went upstairs for a paper knife which would serve as a dagger for the third episode.
From Marjorie Dean College Junior by Pauline Lester
Everything was exactly as I had left it fourteen months before, even to the paper knife still resting in a half cut book, and a hastily scrawled memo upon the blotting pad.
From The Beautiful White Devil by Guy Newell Boothby
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.
