knife
English
a few kitchen knives: chef's knife, bread knife, steak knife, and paring knife
Alternative forms
- (noun): knyfe (obsolete)
- (plural): knifes (nonstandard)
- (verb): knive (uncommon)
Etymology
From Middle English knyf, knif, from late Old English cnīf, possibly from Old Norse knífr, from Proto-Germanic *knībaz, from *knīpaną (“to pinch”), Proto-Indo-European *gneybʰ- (compare Lithuanian gnýbti, žnýbti (“to pinch”), gnaibis (“pinching”)). Replaced Middle English sax (“knife”) from Old English seax; and Middle English coutel, qwetyll (“knife”) from Old French coutel.
The verb knife is attested since the mid 1800s;[1] the variant knive is attested since 1733.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /naɪf/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -aɪf
Noun
knife (plural knives)
- A utensil or a tool designed for cutting, consisting of a flat piece of hard material, usually steel or other metal (the blade), usually sharpened on one edge, attached to a handle. The blade may be pointed for piercing.
- 2007, Scott Smith, The Ruins, page 273
- Jeff was bent low over the backboard, working with the knife, a steady sawing motion, his shirt soaked through with sweat.
- 2007, Scott Smith, The Ruins, page 273
- A weapon designed with the aforementioned specifications intended for slashing and/or stabbing and too short to be called a sword. A dagger.
- Any blade-like part in a tool or a machine designed for cutting, such as that of a chipper.
Derived terms
Terms derived from knife (noun)
- bowie knife
- bring a knife to a gunfight
- butcher knife
- butterknife
- carving knife
- flick knife
- hunting knife
- jack-knife
- knifecraft
- knife fight
- knifefish
- knife game
- knife money
- knifesmith
- not the sharpest knife in the drawer
- penknife
- pocketknife
- squash knife
- steak knife
- sushi knife
- Swiss Army Knife
Descendants
- Sranan Tongo: nefi
- → Portuguese: naifa
- → Samoan: naifi
Translations
utensil or tool designed for cutting
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weapon
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any blade-like part designed for cutting
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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See also
- athame
- bayonet
- bistoury
- cake slice, cake-slice
- dagger
- poniard
- scalpel
- stiletto
knife on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Verb
knife (third-person singular simple present knifes, present participle knifing, simple past and past participle knifed)
- (transitive) To cut with a knife.
- (transitive) To use a knife to injure or kill by stabbing, slashing, or otherwise using the sharp edge of the knife as a weapon.
- She was repeatedly knifed in the chest.
- 1843, The Foreign Quarterly Review, volume 31, Treuttel and Würtz, Treuttel, Jun, and Richter, page 236:
- One day his sergeant began to cane him, on which, seizing his knife, he knifed the sergeant : he knifed the privates : he knifed until he was finally overpowered, and, brought before a court-martial, was condemned to fifteen years at the galleys.
- 2012, Robert Biswas-Diener, The Courage Quotient: How Science Can Make You Braver, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 92:
- The plane has been hijacked. They've already knifed a guy.
- 2015, Ross H. Spencer, The Fedorovich File, Diversion Books, →ISBN, page 211:
- Naw, they found him in the pissery of some gin mill near the Mohawk West terminal—he'd been knifed.
- (intransitive) To cut through as if with a knife.
- The boat knifed through the water.
- (transitive) To betray, especially in the context of a political slate.
- (transitive) To positively ignore, especially in order to denigrate; compare cut.
Translations
to use a knife to cut
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to use a knife to injure or kill
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to cut through as if with a knife
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
References
- “knife”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
Anagrams
- Finke
Middle English
Noun
knife
- Alternative form of knyf