knife
/ˈnaɪ̯f/ noun, verb
Forms knives knifes knifing knifed knyfe knive
- 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. “He was looking for a knife to chop some steak.”
- noun A weapon designed with the aforementioned specifications intended for slashing or stabbing but too short to be called a sword; a dagger.
- noun Any blade-like part in a tool or a machine designed for cutting, such as that of a chipper.
- verb (transitive) To cut with a knife.
- verb (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.”
- verb (intransitive) To cut through as if with a knife. “The boat knifed through the water.”
- verb (transitive) To betray, especially in the context of a political slate.
- verb (transitive) To positively ignore, especially in order to denigrate; compare cut.
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 let down play someone false renegade sell sell the pass sell down the river sell down tongue stab
Etymology
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.
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”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun An instrument consisting of a thin blade, usually of steel and having a sharp edge for cutting, fastened to a handle, but of many different forms and names for different uses; as, table knife, drawing knife, putty knife, pallet knife, pocketknife, penknife, chopping knife, etc.
- noun A sword or dagger.
- verb To prune with the knife.
- verb To cut or stab with a knife. [Low]
Etymology [OE. knif, AS. cnif; akin to D. knijf, Icel. knifr, Sw. knif, Dan. kniv.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “knife”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details