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What does KNIFE mean?

Definitions for KNIFE
naɪf; naɪvzknife

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word KNIFE.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. knifenoun

    edge tool used as a cutting instrument; has a pointed blade with a sharp edge and a handle

  2. knifenoun

    a weapon with a handle and blade with a sharp point

  3. tongue, knifeverb

    any long thin projection that is transient

    "tongues of flame licked at the walls"; "rifles exploded quick knives of fire into the dark"

  4. knife, stabverb

    use a knife on

    "The victim was knifed to death"

Wiktionary

  1. knifenoun

    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.

  2. knifenoun

    A weapon designed with the aforementioned specifications intended for slashing and/or stabbing and too short to be called a sword. A dagger.

  3. knifenoun

    Any blade-like part in a tool or a machine designed for cutting, such as the knives for a chipper.

  4. knifeverb

    To cut with a knife.

  5. knifeverb

    To use a knife to injure or kill by stabbing, slashing, or otherwise using the sharp edge of the knife as a weapon.

  6. knifeverb

    To cut through as if with a knife.

  7. knifeverb

    To betray, especially in the context of a political slate.

  8. knifeverb

    To positively ignore, especially in order to denigrate. compare cut

  9. Etymology: knif, from late cnif, from Old Norse knífr (compare Danish/Swedish kniv), from knībaz (compare Low German Knief, Knäip ‘penknife’), from ‘to pinch’ (compare Dutch knijpen, Low German kniepen, Old High German gniffen), from gneibʰ- (compare Lithuanian gnýbti, žnýbti ‘to pinch’, gnaibis ‘pinching’). Replaced Middle English sexe.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Knifenoun

    plur. knives. An instrument edged and pointed, wherewith meat is cut, and animals killed.

    Etymology: cnif , Sax. kniff , Danish.

    Come, thick night,
    And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
    That my keen knife see not the wound it makes. William Shakespeare.

    Blest powers, forbid thy tender life
    Should bleed upon a barbarous knife. Richard Crashaw.

    The sacred priests with ready knives bereave
    The beast of life, and in full bowls receive
    The streaming blood. John Dryden, Æn.

    Ev’n in his sleep he starts, and fears the knife,
    And, trembling, in his arms takes his accomplice wife. Dryd.

    Pain is not in the knife that cuts us; but we call it cutting in the knife, and pain only in ourselves. Isaac Watts.

Wikipedia

  1. Knife

    A knife (PL: knives; from Old Norse knifr 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools. Originally made of wood, bone, and stone (such as flint and obsidian), over the centuries, in step with improvements in both metallurgy and manufacturing, knife blades have been made from copper, bronze, iron, steel, ceramic, and titanium. Most modern knives have either fixed or folding blades; blade patterns and styles vary by maker and country of origin. Knives can serve various purposes. Hunters use a hunting knife, soldiers use the combat knife, scouts, campers, and hikers carry a pocket knife; there are kitchen knives for preparing foods (the chef's knife, the paring knife, bread knife, cleaver), table knives (butter knives and steak knives), weapons (daggers or switchblades), knives for throwing or juggling, and knives for religious ceremony or display (the kirpan).

ChatGPT

  1. knife

    A knife is a culinary or utility tool with a sharpened metal blade attached to a handle, used for cutting, chopping, slicing or as a weapon. It's one of the oldest tools used by mankind with various types from pocket knives to butcher knives.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Knifenoun

    an instrument consisting of a thin blade, usually of steel and having a sharp edge for cutting, fastened to a handle, but of many different forms and names for different uses; as, table knife, drawing knife, putty knife, pallet knife, pocketknife, penknife, chopping knife, etc.

  2. Knifenoun

    a sword or dagger

  3. Knifeverb

    to prune with the knife

  4. Knifeverb

    to cut or stab with a knife

  5. Etymology: [OE. knif, AS. cnf; akin to D. knijf, Icel. knfr, Sw. knif, Dan. kniv.]

Wikidata

  1. Knife

    A knife is a cutting tool with a cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knife-like tools were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools. Originally made of rock, bone, flint, and obsidian, knives have evolved in construction as technology has, with blades being made from bronze, copper, iron, steel, ceramics, and titanium. Many cultures have their unique version of the knife. Due to its role as humankind's first tool, certain cultures have attached spiritual and religious significance to the knife. Most modern-day knives follow either a fixed-blade or a folding construction style, with blade patterns and styles as varied as their makers and countries of origin.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Knife

    nīf, n. an instrument for cutting: a sword or dagger:—pl. Knives (nīvz).—v.t. to stab with a knife: (Amer.) to try to destroy a political candidate's chances by a treacherous attack.—ns. Knife′-and-fork′, a trencherman; Knife′-board, a board on which knives are cleaned: (coll.) the seat running along the top of an omnibus; Knife′-boy, a boy employed in cleaning knives; Knife′-edge (mech.), a sharp piece of steel like a knife's edge serving as the axis of a balance, &c.; Knife′-grind′er, one who grinds or sharpens knives; Knife′-mon′ey, a knife-shaped bronze currency formerly used in China; Knife′-rest, a glass or metal utensil on which to rest a carving-knife or fork; Knife′-tray, a tray for holding knives.—War to the knife, mortal combat. [A.S. cníf: Ger. kneif, knife, kneifen, to nip.]

Dictionary of Nautical Terms

  1. knife

    An old name for a dagger: thus Lady Macbeth-- "That my keen knife see not the wound it makes."

Suggested Resources

  1. knife

    Song lyrics by knife -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by knife on the Lyrics.com website.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. KNIFE

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Knife is ranked #78567 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Knife surname appeared 243 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Knife.

    68.7% or 167 total occurrences were White.
    25.1% or 61 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
    3.7% or 9 total occurrences were Black.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'KNIFE' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3678

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'KNIFE' in Written Corpus Frequency: #3130

  3. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'KNIFE' in Nouns Frequency: #1294

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

How to pronounce KNIFE?

How to say KNIFE in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of KNIFE in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of KNIFE in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of KNIFE in a Sentence

  1. Reg Foggerdy:

    I didn't have a knife, and I didn't have matches for a fire, so I couldn't go and cut a steak off the animal because I had no way to cook it and had no way to cut it.

  2. Elliot Brennan:

    With tension between Australia and China on a knife-edge, the intense internal focus of the United States could not have come at a worse time to reassure the Australian public of its commitment to the alliance.

  3. Robert Long:

    I pull over, they get in, I drive a little ways, stop, pull a knife, a gun, whatever, tie them up, take them out. And that would be it.

  4. Rick Singleton:

    We shook him down, and we did find a shank in his possession -- a shank is a prison knife -- and we retrieved that. We immediately had him shipped back to the Department of Corrections.

  5. Emily Odesser:

    It never got to the point where I made any attempts or serious plans but I remember it was kind of this morbid obsession, when I was walking to school and I would see a car drive by me I would be like ‘Oh if I just go in front of that I can end this’, [or] I would see a knife in the kitchen and be like ‘If I just use this I could end it.’.

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Popularity rank by frequency of use

KNIFE#1#5631#10000

References

Translations for KNIFE

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

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"KNIFE." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 Dec. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/KNIFE>.

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    lighter consisting of a thin piece of wood or cardboard tipped with combustible chemical; ignites with friction
    A gauge
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