Category:Knife

Knife, n.; pl. Knives. Etym: [OE. knif, AS. cnif; akin to D. knijf, Icel. knifr, Sw. knif, Dan. kniv.]

1. 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. A sword or dagger. The coward conquest of a wretch's knife. Shak. Knife grass (Bot.) a tropical American sedge (Scleria latifolia), having leaves with a very sharp and hard edge, like a knife. -- War to the knife, mortal combat; a conflict carried to the last extremity.

knife Knife, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Knifed; p. pr. & vb. n. Knifing.]

1. (Hort.)

Defn: To prune with the knife.

2. To cut or stab with a knife. [Low]

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Knife - (1.) Heb. hereb, "the waster," a sharp instrument for circumcision (Joshua 5:2, Joshua 5:3, lit. "knives of flint;" compare Exodus 4:25); a razor (Ezekiel 5:1); a graving tool (Exodus 20:25); an axe (Ezekiel 26:9). (2.) Heb. maakeleth, a large knife for slaughtering and cutting up food (Genesis 22:6, Genesis 22:10; Proverbs 30:14). (3.) Heb. sakkin, a knife for any purpose, a table knife (Proverbs 23:2). (4.) Heb. mahalaph, a butcher's knife for slaughtering the victims offered in sacrifice (Ezra 1:9). (5.) Smaller knives (Heb. ta'ar, Jeremiah 36:26) were used for sharpening pens. The pruning-knives mentioned in Isaiah 18:5 (Heb. mizmaroth ) were probably curved knives.