knife
/nʌɪf
/noun (plural knives /nʌɪvz/)
1An instrument composed of a blade fixed into a handle, used for cutting or as a weapon.He studied the padded envelope for a moment, before pulling out a pocket knife and cutting into one of the ends....
- Take your sharpest serrated bread knife and cut the stick in half across the middle.
- Jake was carrying a sharp kitchen knife from his grandmother's house.
1.1A cutting blade forming part of a machine.The machine has a knife which cuts open the fabric lengthwise as fast as it knits and is self acting.
verb [with object]
1Stab (someone) with a knife: he was knifed to death during the argument...
- A gang chased him into a dingy block of flats and knifed him to death.
- The victim, a 17-year-old boy, was taken to Mayday Hospital after he was knifed while sitting at a bus stop in Beulah Hill last Friday.
- The 45-year-old man was walking in the Hythe area of the town when four men got out of a car, knocked him to the ground and knifed him in the ribs.
Synonyms
stab, hack, gash, run through, slash, lacerate, cut, tear, gouge, pierce, spike, impale, transfix, bayonet, spear, skewer, wound
1.1 [no object, with adverbial] Cut or move cleanly through something with a knife-like action: a shard of steel knifed through the mainsail...
- The project's opponents concede the project is tastefully designed, with no Nassau-type high-rises knifing into the sky.
- I feel as if this highway knifes straight on through the world.
- The water came right up to the walkway, and a few Ring-billed Gulls knifed into the wind, sailing over dozens of ducks and coots.
Phrases
before you can say knife
that one could cut with a knife
get (or stick) the knife into (or in) someone
go (or be) under the knife
the knives are out (for someone)
like a (hot) knife through butter
twist (or turn) the knife (in the wound)
Derivatives
knife-like
- Knives or knife-like objects of any length cannot be carried on to a plane but they can be stored in checked baggage.
- She held her long knife-like weapon in her hand.
- The following day, he developed worsening, knife-like chest pain.
knifer
- Others have suggested she let the knifer get too close before she fired.
Origin
Late Old English cnīf, from Old Norse knífr, of Germanic origin.