dagger

dag·ger

D0005800 (dăg′ər)n.1. A short pointed weapon with sharp edges.2. Something that agonizes, torments, or wounds.3. Printing a. See obelisk.b. A double dagger.Idiom: look daggers at To glare at angrily or hatefully.

[Middle English daggere, alteration of Old French dague, from Old Provençal dague or Old Italian daga, both perhaps from Vulgar Latin *dāca (ēnsis), Dacian (knife), from feminine of Latin Dācus.]

dagger

(ˈdæɡə) n1. (Arms & Armour (excluding Firearms)) a short stabbing weapon with a pointed blade2. (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) Also called: obelisk a character (†) used in printing to indicate a cross reference, esp to a footnote3. at daggers drawn in a state of open hostility4. look daggers to glare with hostility; scowlvb (tr) 5. (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) to mark with a dagger6. (Arms & Armour (excluding Firearms)) archaic to stab with a dagger[C14: of uncertain origin]

dag•ger

(ˈdæg ər)

n. 1. a short, swordlike weapon with a pointed blade and a handle, used for stabbing. 2. Also called obelisk. a printer's mark (†) used esp. for references. v.t. 3. to stab with or as if with a dagger. 4. to mark with a printer's dagger. Idioms: look daggers at, to look at with intense hostility or anger. [1350–1400; Middle English, probably alter. of Old French dague, of obscure orig.; compare dag]

dagger

Past participle: daggered
Gerund: daggering

Imperative
dagger
dagger

Present
I dagger
you dagger
he/she/it daggers
we dagger
you dagger
they dagger

Preterite
I daggered
you daggered
he/she/it daggered
we daggered
you daggered
they daggered

Present Continuous
I am daggering
you are daggering
he/she/it is daggering
we are daggering
you are daggering
they are daggering

Present Perfect
I have daggered
you have daggered
he/she/it has daggered
we have daggered
you have daggered
they have daggered

Past Continuous
I was daggering
you were daggering
he/she/it was daggering
we were daggering
you were daggering
they were daggering

Past Perfect
I had daggered
you had daggered
he/she/it had daggered
we had daggered
you had daggered
they had daggered

Future
I will dagger
you will dagger
he/she/it will dagger
we will dagger
you will dagger
they will dagger

Future Perfect
I will have daggered
you will have daggered
he/she/it will have daggered
we will have daggered
you will have daggered
they will have daggered

Future Continuous
I will be daggering
you will be daggering
he/she/it will be daggering
we will be daggering
you will be daggering
they will be daggering

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been daggering
you have been daggering
he/she/it has been daggering
we have been daggering
you have been daggering
they have been daggering

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been daggering
you will have been daggering
he/she/it will have been daggering
we will have been daggering
you will have been daggering
they will have been daggering

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been daggering
you had been daggering
he/she/it had been daggering
we had been daggering
you had been daggering
they had been daggering

Conditional
I would dagger
you would dagger
he/she/it would dagger
we would dagger
you would dagger
they would dagger

Past Conditional
I would have daggered
you would have daggered
he/she/it would have daggered
we would have daggered
you would have daggered
they would have daggered

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	dagger - a short knife with a pointed blade used for piercing or stabbingstickerdirk - a relatively long dagger with a straight bladehaft, helve - the handle of a weapon or toolhilt - the handle of a sword or daggerkirpan - a ceremonial four-inch curved dagger that Sikh men and women are obliged to wear at all timesknife - a weapon with a handle and blade with a sharp pointcreese, kris, crease - a Malayan dagger with a wavy bladebodkin, poniard - a dagger with a slender bladestiletto - a small dagger with a tapered blade
	2.	dagger - a character used in printing to indicate a cross reference or footnoteobeliskgrapheme, graphic symbol, character - a written symbol that is used to represent speech; "the Greek alphabet has 24 characters"

dagger

noun knife, blade, bayonet, dirk, stiletto, poniard, skean The man raised his arm and plunged a dagger into her back.at daggers drawn on bad terms, at odds, at war, at loggerheads, up in arms, at enmity She and her mother were at daggers drawn.look daggers at someone glare, frown, scowl, glower, look black, lour or lower The girls looked daggers at me.Quotations
"Is this a dagger which I see before me"
"The handle toward my hand?" [William Shakespeare Macbeth]

Translations

匕首短剑

dagger

(ˈdӕgə) noun a knife or short sword for stabbing. 匕首, 短剑

dagger

speak daggers

To speak harshly or maliciously, so as to hurt the listener. I can't stand to be around my mother these days—she's always speaking daggers because she's so miserable. I will speak daggers to my enemy when I see him at the debate.See also: dagger, speak

be at daggers drawn

To be prepared to verbally or physically fight another person or group. Primarily heard in UK, Australia. The police have had to intervene because those rival gangs have been at daggers drawn lately. The members of the committee are at daggers drawn because they cannot agree on a course of action.See also: dagger, drawn

cloak-and-dagger

Using or involving secrecy, deception, or espionage, especially the kind portrayed in dramatic depictions of spying. During the Cold War, there were always rumors of the latest cloak-and-dagger tactics being used by spies. I know I said I wanted to meet you in private, but you didn't have to be so cloak-and-dagger about it. A parking garage isn't what I had in mind.

shoot daggers at (one)

To glare at one very angrily, spitefully, or disdainfully. I noticed the bride shooting daggers at the best man as he started making vulgar jokes during his speech.See also: dagger, shoot

look daggers at (one)

To glare at someone very angrily, spitefully, or disdainfully. I noticed the bride looking daggers at the best man as he started making vulgar jokes during his speech.See also: dagger, look

at daggers drawn

Prepared to verbally or physically fight another person or group. Primarily heard in UK, Australia. The police have had to intervene because those rival gangs have been at daggers drawn lately. The members of the committee are at daggers drawn because they cannot agree on a course of action.See also: dagger, drawn

bulldagger

1. A derogatory and highly offensive term for a woman who is masculine in appearance and/or sensibility. Typically used of lesbians, usually black lesbians, who exhibit such traits.2. A reclaimed term (see Definition 1) used by homosexuals for a woman who is masculine in appearance and/or sensibility. Typically used of lesbians, usually black lesbians, who exhibit such traits. Yeah, I'm a bulldagger who's attracted to femmes.

cloak-and-dagger

involving secrecy and plotting. A great deal of cloak-and-dagger stuff goes on in political circles. A lot of cloak-and-dagger activity was involved in the appointment of the director.

look daggers at someone

Fig. to give someone a dirty look. Tom must have been mad at Ann from the way he was looking daggers at her. Don't you dare look daggers at me! Don't even look cross-eyed at me!See also: dagger, look

daggers drawn, at

Also, with daggers drawn. About to or ready to fight, as in Are Felix and Oscar still at daggers drawn over the rent? Although daggers today are rarely if ever used to avenge an insult or issue a challenge to a duel, this idiom remains current. Its figurative use dates from about 1800. See also: dagger

look daggers

Glare, stare fiercely, as in When she started to discuss their finances, he looked daggers at her. This metaphoric term, likening an angry expression to a dagger's thrust, dates from ancient times and has appeared in English since about 1600. See also: dagger, look

cloak-and-dagger

COMMON You use cloak-and-dagger to describe activities, especially dangerous ones, which are done in secret. Now that the Berlin Wall has come down, the cloak-and-dagger world of East-West espionage might appear to be outdated. They met in classic cloak-and-dagger style beside the lake in St James's Park. Note: You can refer to such activities as cloaks and daggers. Working in police intelligence has very little to do with cloaks and daggers — it's mostly about boring reports and endless statistics. Note: You sometimes use this expression to suggest that people are treating these activities in an unnecessarily dramatic way. Note: This expression is taken from the name of a type of 17th century Spanish drama, in which characters typically wore cloaks and fought with daggers or swords.

at daggers drawn

BRITISHIf two people or groups are at daggers drawn, they are having a serious disagreement and are very angry with each other. The publishing and record divisions of the company were at daggers drawn over the simultaneous release of the book and the album. The government now finds itself at daggers drawn with the same press it had gone to such great lengths to give freedom of expression to.See also: dagger, drawn

look daggers at someone

LITERARYIf someone looks daggers at you, they stare at you in a very angry way. Christabel stopped combing her hair and looked daggers at Ron. Note: Verbs such as stare and shoot are sometimes used instead of look. Mr. Trancas was grinning, while the other man stared daggers at him. Dede shot daggers at her adversary until she was out of sight.See also: dagger, look, someone

at daggers drawn

in a state of bitter enmity. The image here is of the drawing of daggers as the final stage in a confrontation before actual fighting breaks out. Although recorded in 1668 , the expression only became common from the early 19th century onwards.See also: dagger, drawn

look daggers at

glare angrily or venomously at. The expression speak daggers is also found and is used by Shakespeare's Hamlet in the scene in which he reproaches his mother.See also: dagger, look

be at daggers ˈdrawn (with somebody)

if two people are at daggers drawn, they are very angry with each other: They’ve been at daggers drawn ever since he borrowed her car and smashed it up. OPPOSITE: (as) thick as thieves (with somebody)If you draw a weapon (= a gun, a dagger, etc.), you take it out in order to attack somebody.See also: dagger, drawn

look ˈdaggers at somebody

look at somebody very angrily but not say anything: He looked daggers at her across the room when she mentioned his divorce.See also: dagger, look, somebody

bulldiker

and bull-dagger and bulldyker n. a lesbian, especially if aggressive or masculine. (Rude and derogatory.) Some old bulldiker strutted in and ordered a beer and a chaser. She was described by her friends as a “bull-dagger,” and I can’t imagine what her enemies called her.

bull-dagger

verbSee bulldiker

look daggers at

To glare at angrily or hatefully.See also: dagger, look

cloak-and-dagger

Describing a secret or undercover operation. The term dates from seventeenth-century Spain, and the popular swashbuckling plays of Lope de Vega and Pedro Calderón de la Barca, filled with duels, intrigue, and betrayal. They were referred to as comedias de capa y espada, which was variously translated as “cloak-and-sword” or “cloak-and-dagger plays.” Somewhat later, in the nineteenth century, the term began to be applied to various kinds of romantic intrigue, and still later, to espionage. The idea of concealment was, of course, much older, and indeed, Chaucer wrote of “The smyler with the knyf under the cloke” (The Knight’s Tale).

look daggers at, to

To glare at someone. The term first appeared in the Greek playwright Aristophanes’s The Birds (ca. 414 b.c.) and was alluded to several times by Shakespeare. “There’s daggers in men’s smiles,” he wrote (Macbeth, 2:3). The image aptly conveys the fierceness of such a glance and appealed to numerous other writers, including Thoreau. A synonymous cliché is if looks could kill, which has been around since the early 1900s. Frank Harris used it in My Life and Loves (1922): “When they let me up I looked at Jones, and if looks could kill, he would have had short shrift.”See also: dagger, look

dagger

dag·ger

dagger

dag•ger

dagger

dagger

dagger

dagger

speak daggers

be at daggers drawn

cloak-and-dagger

shoot daggers at (one)

look daggers at (one)

at daggers drawn

bulldagger

cloak-and-dagger

look daggers at someone

daggers drawn, at

look daggers

cloak-and-dagger

at daggers drawn

look daggers at someone

at daggers drawn

look daggers at

be at daggers ˈdrawn (with somebody)

look ˈdaggers at somebody

bulldiker

bull-dagger

look daggers at

cloak-and-dagger

look daggers at, to

Dagger

Dagger

What does it mean when you dream about a dagger?

dagger

Dagger

dagger

Synonyms for dagger

noun knife

Synonyms

phrase at daggers drawn

Synonyms

phrase look daggers at someone

Synonyms

Synonyms for dagger

noun a short knife with a pointed blade used for piercing or stabbing

Synonyms

Related Words

noun a character used in printing to indicate a cross reference or footnote

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Related Words