/naɪf/, /nɑɪf/
OriginFrom Middle English knyf, knif, from late Old English cnīf, from Old Norse knífr, 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 knife is attested since the 1860s; the variant knive is attested since 1733.
Cognates
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”).
- 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.”
“Jeff was bent low over the backboard, working with the knife, a steady sawing motion, his shirt soaked through with sweat.”
- A weapon designed with the aforementioned specifications intended for slashing or stabbing but too short to be called a sword; a dagger.
- Any blade-like part in a tool or a machine designed for cutting, such as that of a chipper.
- transitiveTo cut with a knife.
- transitiveTo 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.”
“One day his sergeant began to cane him, on which, seizing his knife, he knifed the sergeant : he knifed the privates : he knifed until he was finally overpowered, and, brought before a court-martial, ”
“The plane has been hijacked. They've already knifed a guy.”
- intransitiveTo cut through as if with a knife.
“The boat knifed through the water.”
- transitiveTo betray, especially in the context of a political slate.
- transitiveTo positively ignore, especially in order to denigrate; compare cut.
Formsknives(plural) · knyfe(alternative, obsolete) · knive(alternative, uncommon) · knifes(present, singular, third-person) · knifing(participle, present) · knifed(participle, past) · knifed(past)