stiletto
UK /stɪˈlɛtəʊ/ · US /stɪˈlɛtoʊ/ noun, verb
Forms stilettos stilettoes stiletti stilettoing stilettoed
- noun A small, slender knife or dagger-like weapon intended for stabbing.
- noun A rapier.
- noun An awl.
- noun A woman's shoe with a tall, slender heel (called a stiletto heel).
- noun (obsolete, historical) A beard trimmed into a pointed form.
- verb (transitive) To attack or kill with a stiletto (dagger).
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian stiletto. By surface analysis, Latin stilus + Italian -etto. Doublet of stylet.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A kind of dagger with a slender, rounded, and pointed blade.
- noun A pointed instrument for making eyelet holes in embroidery.
- verb To stab or kill with a stiletto. Bacon.
Etymology [It., dim. of stilo a dagger, fr. L. stilus a pointed instrument. See Style for writing, and cf. Stylet.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “stiletto”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details