sharpener

American  

[shahrp-uhn-er] / ˈʃɑrp ən ər /

noun

1. a tool, device, or machine used to produce or restore a fine edge or point on blades, pencils, etc.

2. a person whose work is to restore a fine edge or point on things by means of such a tool or machine.

3. a person, activity, or thing that serves to hone or challenge a person's thinking, skill, etc.

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Example Sentences

A box of drawing pins, an old stapler, a tangled mess of paperclips, a pencil sharpener.

From Literature

Two or three days later Leroy stuck the snake in the third-grade pencil sharpener, tail first, and that teacher went all to pieces too.

From Literature

Don’t trust the gift recipient with a knife sharpener?

From Salon

Hwangrae Lee, from Korea, polished his pencil sharpener with a tissue.

From New York Times

"In atom-probe tomography, we start by sharpening a piece of the lunar sample into a very sharp tip, using a focused ion beam microscope, almost like a very fancy pencil sharpener," Greer said.

From Science Daily