jackknife
a large pocketknife.
Fancy Diving. a dive in which the diver bends in midair to touch the toes, keeping the legs straight, and then straightens out.
to bend or double over like a jackknife: The prizefighter jackknifed and fell when he was hit in the stomach.
(of a trailer truck) to have the cab and trailer swivel at the linkage until they form a V shape, as the result of an abrupt stop or accident.
(in diving) to perform a jackknife.
to move rapidly at an abrupt angle.
to cause to jackknife: The blow jackknifed the prizefighter.
to cut with a jackknife.
resembling a jackknife, as in its shape, function, or manner of opening and folding.
Origin of jackknife
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use jackknife in a sentence
It was necessary to do the work with an old jack-knife and one of the chisels previously secured by Rose.
Besides this—for in poverty of appliances so complete everything counts for a little—he had his jack-knife in his pocket.
Toilers of the Sea | Victor HugoHis fingers are gone, only little points are left, as if they had been whittled off with a jack-knife.
Gardens of the Caribbees, v. 1/2 | Ida May Hill StarrI'm goin', right now, an' with nothin' on me no more'n a jack-knife with a busted blade!
Motor Matt's Daring, or, True to His Friends | Stanley R. MatthewsKit bought one of these for a jack-knife,—for a curiosity, of course.
Left on Labrador | Charles Asbury Stephens
British Dictionary definitions for jackknife
/ (ˈdʒækˌnaɪf) /
a knife with the blade pivoted to fold into a recess in the handle
a former name for a type of dive in which the diver bends at the waist in midair, with his legs straight and his hands touching his feet, finally straightening out and entering the water headfirst: forward pike dive
(of an articulated lorry) to go out of control in such a way that the trailer swings round at an angle to the cab
to make a jackknife dive
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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