| 释义 |
knife-grinder
1. One whose trade it is to grind knives and cutting-tools, esp. in the process of making these; also, an itinerant grinder or sharpener of knives and scissors.
1611Florio, Arruotatore, a sheare or knife grinder. 1797Canning Knife-Grinder iii, Tell me, Knife-grinder, how you came to grind knives? 1813Examiner 17 May 317/2 Tricks that are called nervous,—such as..playing the knife-grinder with your leg. 1878N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 265 The case of the Sheffield knife-grinders.
2. A grind-stone, emery-wheel, or other appliance for grinding steel cutting tools.
1875in Knight Dict. Mech.
3. a. A name for a species of cicada. b. The Night-jar or Goatsucker (Cent. Dict.); see grinder 7.
1859Tennent Ceylon (1860) I. 267 The cicada..makes the forest re-echo with a long sustained noise so curiously resembling that of a cutler's wheel that..it has acquired the highly appropriate name of the knife-grinder. |