Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A weapon designed with the aforementioned specifications intended for slashing or stabbing but too short to be called a sword; a dagger.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Any blade-like part in a tool or a machine designed for cutting, such as that of a chipper.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To cut with a knife.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To use a knife to injure or kill by stabbing, slashing, or otherwise using the sharp edge of the knife as a weapon.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To cut through as if with a knife.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To betray, especially in the context of a political slate.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: burn, quisle, stab in the back, assfuck, betray, cop out, cross out, cross up, double-cross, do someone dirty, do the dirty on, false, go back on, knife, let down, play someone false, renegade, sell, sell the pass, sell down the river, sell down, sell out, swike, traitorize, turncoat
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To positively ignore, especially in order to denigrate; compare cut.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
edge tool used as a cutting instrument; has a pointed blade with a sharp edge and a handle
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: edge tool
Narrower terms: barong, bolo, bolo knife, Bowie knife, bread knife, butcher knife, carving knife, case knife, sheath knife, cleaver, meat cleaver, chopper, drawknife, drawshave, hunting knife, letter opener, paper knife, paperknife, linoleum knife, linoleum cutter, parang, parer, paring knife, pocketknife, pocket knife, pruning knife, slicer, surgical knife, table knife
noun
a weapon with a handle and blade with a sharp point
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: weapon, arm, weapon system
Narrower terms: bayonet, dagger, sticker, khukuri, machete, matchet, panga, shiv, trench knife, yataghan
noun
any long thin projection that is transient
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: tongue
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: projection
verb
use a knife on
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: stab
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: injure, wound
Narrower terms: poniard, bayonet
History
From Middle English knyf, knif, from late Old English cnīf, from Old Norse knífr or Proto-West Germanic *knīb, from Proto-Germanic *knībaz, from *knīpaną (“to pinch”), Proto-Indo-European *gneybh- (compare Lithuanian gnýbti, žnýbti (“to pinch”), gnaibis (“pinching”)). Displaced native Middle English sax (“knife”), from Old English seax; and Middle English coutel, qwetyll (“knife”) from Old French coutel. * The verb is first attested in 1865. The variant knive is first attested in 1733. Cognates Cognate with Yola kunnife (“knife”), North Frisian knif (“knife”), Dutch knijf (“long pointy knife, poniard”), German Knifte (“rifle; thick slicebread”), German Low German Knief (“knife”), Luxembourgish Knäip (“paring knife”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk kniv (“knife”), Faroese knívur (“knife”), Icelandic hnífur, knífur (“knife”), Swedish knif, kniv (“knife”).
Across languages
494 source translations are retained for this English entry.
