knife

Use Knife in a sentence

noun

an instrument for cutting, consisting essentially of a thin, sharp-edged, metal blade fitted with a handle.

a knifelike weapon; dagger or short sword.

any blade for cutting, as in a tool or machine.

verb (used with object)

to apply a knife to; cut, stab, etc., with a knife.

to attempt to defeat or undermine in a secret or underhanded way.

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Knife is one of our favorite verbs.

So is peculate. Does it mean:

to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.

to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.

LEARN MORE FUN, UNUSUAL VERBS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

verb (used without object)

to move or cleave through something with or as if with a knife: The ship knifed through the heavy seas.

Idioms

under the knife, in surgery; undergoing a medical operation: The patient was under the knife for four hours.

Origin:
before 1100; Middle English knif, Old English cnīf; cognate with Dutch knijf, German Kneif, Old Norse knīfr

Related forms

knife·like, adjective

knif·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To knife

Collins

World English Dictionary

knife (naɪf)

—n , pl knives
1.	a cutting instrument consisting of a sharp-edged often pointed blade of metal fitted into a handle or onto a machine
2.	a similar instrument used as a weapon
3.	have one's knife in someone to have a grudge against or victimize someone
4.	twist the knife to make a bad situation worse in a deliberately malicious way
5.	(Brit) the knives are out for someone people are determined to harm or put a stop to someone: the knives are out for Stevens
6.	under the knife undergoing a surgical operation

—vb
7.	to cut, stab, or kill with a knife
8.	to betray, injure, or depose in an underhand way

[Old English cnīf; related to Old Norse knīfr, Middle Low German knīf]

'knifelike

—*adj*

'knifer

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

knife

late O.E. cnif, from O.N. knifr, from P.Gmc. *knibaz (cf. M.L.G. knif, M.Du. cnijf, Ger. kneip), of uncertain origin. The verb is first attested 1865, from the noun. Fr. canif "penknife" (1441) is borrowed from M.E. or O.N.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Easton

Bible Dictionary

Knife definition

(1.) Heb. hereb, "the waster," a sharp instrument for circumcision (Josh. 5:2, 3, lit. "knives of flint;" comp. Ex. 4:25); a razor (Ezek. 5:1); a graving tool (Ex. 20:25); an axe (Ezek. 26:9). (2.) Heb. maakeleth, a large knife for slaughtering and cutting up food (Gen. 22:6, 10; Prov. 30:14). (3.) Heb. sakkin, a knife for any purpose, a table knife (Prov. 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, Jer. 36:26) were used for sharpening pens. The pruning-knives mentioned in Isa. 18:5 (Heb. mizmaroth) were probably curved knives.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

knife

see at gunpoint (knifepoint); under the knife; you could cut it with a knife.