/bleɪd/
OriginFrom Middle English blade, blad, from Old English blæd (“leaf”), from Proto-West Germanic *blad, from Proto-Germanic *bladą, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥h₃-o-to-m, from *bʰleh₃- (“to thrive, bloom”).
See also West Frisian bled, Dutch blad, German Blatt, Danish blad, Irish bláth (“flower”), Welsh blodyn (“flower”), Tocharian A pält, Tocharian B pilta (“leaf”), Albanian fletë (“leaf”). Similar usage in German Sägeblatt (“saw blade”, literally “saw leaf”). Doublet of blat. More at blow.
- The (typically sharp-edged) part of a knife, sword, razor, or other tool with which it cuts.
“Sword. — The blade is straight, tapers gradually, is 32 9/16 inches long from shoulder to point, and is fullered on both sides, commencing 2 inches from the shoulder, to about 17 inches from the point”
- metonymicallyA sword or knife.
“Paul: Give the Harkonnen a blade and let him stand forth.
Shaddam IV: If Feyd wishes, he can meet you with my blade in his hand.”
- abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsisEllipsis of razor blade.
- The flat functional end or piece of a propeller, oar, hockey stick, chisel, screwdriver, skate, etc.
“Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a flui”
- The narrow leaf of a grass or cereal.
- The thin, flat part of a plant leaf, attached to a stem (petiole).
- A flat bone, especially the shoulder blade.
- A cut of beef from near the shoulder blade (part of the chuck).
- The part of the tongue just behind the tip, used to make laminal consonants.
- A piece of prepared, sharp-edged stone, often flint, at least twice as long as it is wide; a long flake of ground-edge stone or knapped vitreous stone.
- A throw characterized by a tight parabolic trajectory due to a steep lateral attitude.
- The rudder, daggerboard, or centerboard of a vessel.
- A bulldozer or surface-grading machine with mechanically adjustable blade that is nominally perpendicular to the forward motion of the vehicle.
- datedA dashing young man.
“He saw a Turnkey in a trice / Unfetter a troublesome blade;”
“But very often blust'ring blades / Are Jerry Sneaks at home.”
“Vice does not thrive here, because the young blades seek it elsewhere.”
- US, slangA homosexual, usually male.
- US, slangAn area of a city which is commonly known for prostitution.
- Thin plate, foil.
- One of a series of small plates that make up the aperture or the shutter of a camera.
- in-pluralThe principal rafters of a roof.
- The four large shell plates on the sides, and the five large ones of the middle, of the carapace of the sea turtle, which yield the best tortoise shell.
- abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsisEllipsis of blade server.
- Synonym of knifeblade.
- An exterior product of vectors. (The product may have more than two factors. Also, a scalar counts as a 0-blade, a vector as a 1-blade; an exterior product of k vectors may be called a k-blade.)
- The part of a key that is inserted into the lock.
- informalAn artificial foot used by amputee athletes, shaped like an upside-down question mark.
- uncountableThe quality of singing with a pure, resonant sound; especially of a countertenor.
“He wasn’t loud, but his voice had lots of blade.”
- Someone connected with Sheffield United Football Club, as a fan, player, coach etc.
- informalTo skate on rollerblades.
“Want to go blading with me later in the park?”
- transitiveTo furnish with a blade.
- intransitive, poeticTo put forth or have a blade.
“As sweet a plant, as fair a flower, is faded / As ever in the Muses' garden bladed.”
- transitiveTo stab with a blade
“The gang member got bladed in a fight.”
- slang, transitiveTo cut a person (usually oneself) so as to provoke bleeding.
“Nowadays, blading happens on occasion in a televised match and more often on pay-per-view but the practice isn't used as much for several reasons, among them an increased awareness of the transmission”
Formsblades(plural) · blades(present, singular, third-person) · blading(participle, present) · bladed(participle, past) · bladed(past) · Blades(plural)