Pl. knives. Forms: 1–3 cnif, 3–7 knif, (3 cnife, cniue, kniue), 3–4 knijf, 3–5 knyue, 4–5 knyf, knyff(e, 4–6 knyfe, 4– knife. Pl. 3 cniues, -fes, -fen, 3–6 kniues, (5 knyfes, -ys, 6–7 knifs), 7– knives. [Late OE. cníf (11th c.) = Fris. knif, MDu. cnijf (Du. knijf), MLG. knîf (LG. knîf, knief, knif), Ger. kneif (prob. from LG.), ON. kníf-r (Sw. knif, Da. kniv):—OTeut. *knīƀo-z, of uncertain etym. Forms with p are also found in Du. knijp, LG. knîp, kniep, G. kneip (also kneupe, gneip, gnippe): as to the relation between these and the forms with f, cf. knape and knave. F. canif (1441 in Godef., Compl.) is from Teut.]
1. A cutting-instrument, consisting of a blade with a sharpened longitudinal edge fixed in a handle, either rigidly as in a table-, carving-, or sheath-knife, or with a joint as in a pocket- or clasp-knife. The blade is generally of steel, but sometimes of other material, as in the silver fish- and fruit-knives, the (blunt-edged) PAPERKNIFE of ivory, wood, etc., and the flint knives of early man.
a. 1100. Ags. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 329/17. Artauus, cnif.
c. 1200. Ormin, 4128. Þatt cnif wass … Off stan, and nohht of irenn.
c. 1305. Pilate, 234, in E. E. P. (1862), 117. Len me a knyf þis appel to parie.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 369. Hir knyues [v.r. knyfes] were chaped noght with bras But al with siluer wroght ful clene and wel.
c. 1460. Stans Puer, 58, in Babees Bk., 30. Brynge no knyves vnskoured to the table.
1552. Huloet, Knife to cut vynes, or graffynge knyfe.
1573–80. Baret, Alv., K 100. A Shoemakers paring knife.
1663. Pepys, Diary, 23 Oct. Bought a large kitchen knife, and half a dozen oyster knives.
1708. W. King, Cookery, iii. Silver and gold knives brought in with the dessert for carving of jellies.
1796. C. Marshall, Garden., xii. (1813), 142. A slip of the knife may wound a neighbouring branch.
1846. Brittan, trans. Malgaigne’s Man. Oper. Surg., 214. Lisfranc uses a double-edged knife, and passes it round the limb so as to carry it with its point downwards on the anterior surface of the tibia.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., Double-knife, a knife having a pair of blades which may be set at any regulated distance from each other, so as to obtain thin sections of soft bodies. One form of this is known as Valentin’s knife, from the inventor.
b. A knife used as a weapon of offence or defence; a knife-like weapon; applied to a short sword, cutlass or hanger. War to the knife: war to the last extremity, fierce or relentless war (lit. and fig.)
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 69. We ne maȝen þe fond from us driue Ne mid sworde ne mid kniue.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 2286. He drou is knif, & slou þe king.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. V. 165. Hadde þei had knyues, bi cryst, her eyther had killed other.
c. 1475. Rauf Coilȝear, 864. Ilk ane a schort knyfe braidit out sone.
c. 1507. Dunbar, 7 Deadly Sins, 32. Than Yre come in with sturt and stryfe; His hand wes ay vpoun his knyfe.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. iii. 36. The worthie meed Of him that slew Sansfoy with bloody knife.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., I. i. 63. Thou lai’st in euery gash that loue hath giuen me, The Knife that made it.
1704. F. Fuller, Med. Gymn. (1711), 255. If I had been Stab’d, or had had my Flesh cut with Knives.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., I. lxxxvi. War, war is still the cry, ‘War even to the knife!’
1876. Gladstone, Relig. Thought, i. in Contemp. Rev., June, 7. ‘Catholicism’ has, after a long slumber, declared war to the knife against modern culture and the highest acquistions of the recent mental development.
1894. Mrs. H. Ward, Marcella, II. 5. If Westall bullies him any more he will put a knife into him.
† c. Pair of knives, a set of two knives, esp. as carried in one sheath. Obs.
Davies and others following him have explained the term as = ‘a pair of scissors,’ but this is apparently erroneous.
[1302–3. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 504. In uno pare de Cultell. empt. pro Priore, 5s.]
1575. Laneham, Lett. (1871), 38. A payr of capped Sheffield kniuez hanging a to side.
1594. Barnfield, Affect. Sheph., II. xvii. A paire of Kniues,… New Gloues to put vpon thy milk-white hand Ile giue thee.
1610. F. Cocks, Diary, 1 Oct. (1901). Paide for a paire of knyves for my va[lentine]: 2s., a string for them 10d.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett., I. I. xiv. Half a dozen pair of Knifs.
a. 1658. Ford, etc., Witch of Edmonton, II. ii. But see, the bridegroom and bride come, the new pair of Sheffield knives, fitted both to one sheath.
1893. N. & Q., 8th Ser. IV. 17/2. At a meeting of the British Archæological Association, in 1860, was exhibited a pair of wedding knives in their embossed sheath of courbouilli.
d. A sharpened cutting-blade forming part of a machine, as of a straw-cutter, turnip-cutter, rag-engine, etc.
1833. J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, II. 261. These knives are placed obliquely to the axle … so as to operate with a sort of draw cut upon the matter presented at the end of the box.
1853. Catal. R. Agric. Soc. Show Gloucester, 31. The knives are as easily sharpened and set as in an ordinary chaff cutter.
1873. J. Richards, Wood-working Factories, 105. It would be impossible to change the cylinders when a machine has a variety of work to do, but by having some extra knives ground at different bevels it becomes an easy matter to change them.
e. Phr. Before (one) can say knife: very quickly or suddenly. colloq.
1880. Mrs. Parr, Adam & Eve, xxxii. 443. ’Fore I could say knife he was out and clane off.
1893. R. Kipling, Many Invent., 334. We’ll pull you off before you can say knife.
2. Comb. a. attrib., as knife-age (see AGE sb. 11), -back, -basket, -blade, -box, -case, -cut, -feat, -girdle, -haft, -man, -shaft, -stab, -stroke, -thrust, -tray, -trick, etc.; objective, obj. gen., and instrumental, as knife-cleaning, -eater, -fancier, -hafter, -juggling, -maker, -sticking, -swallower; similative, etc., as knife-backed, -featured, -jawed, -like, -shaped, -stripped adjs.
1889. R. B. Anderson, trans. Rydberg’s Teut. Mythol., 94. The third patriarch begins the *‘knife-age and the axe-age with cloven shields.’
1844. J. T. Hewlett, Parsons & W., vi. A cook … and *knife-and-shoe-boy.
1737. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1740), II. 124. His Shoulders be no thicker than a *Knife-back.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, Dict., *Knife backt Sculptor, is a Sculptor with a thin edge on its back.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Knife-basket, a tray for holding table-knives.
1799. G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 231. To etch 100 or more *Knife-blades at once.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, vii. An old-fashioned crabbed *knife-box on a dumb waiter.
1869. Daily News, 11 Dec., 2/5. *Knife-cleaning machine maker.
1883. Stevenson, Treas. Isl., IV. xvi. With a *knife-cut on the side of the cheek.
1822–34. Good’s Study Med. (ed. 4), I. 117. The medical journals … are numerous in their descriptions of London *knife-eaters.
1865. J. H. Ingraham, Pillar of Fire (1872), 190. *Knife-girdle of lion’s hide.
1720. Strype, Stow’s Surv. (1754), II. V. xii. 298/1. The skill of making fine Knives and *Knive-hafts.
1864. Leeds Mercury, 24 Oct., 3/2. Richard Rhodes (21), *knife hafter … charged with stealing 6d.
1896. Lydekker, Roy. Nat. Hist., V. 349. The *Knife-Jawed Fishes…. A small genus … (Hoplognathus) … characterised by the jawbones having a sharp cutting edge.
1874. Lisle Carr, Jud. Gwynne, I. vii. 202. Some terrible feats of *knife-juggling.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xxiv. 315. Her great fault was her *knife-like bow.
1860. Illustr. Lond. News, 14 April, 362/3. [The simoom’s] passage leaves a narrow ‘knifelike’ track.
1632. Sherwood, A *knife maker.
1704. Lond. Gaz., No. 4082/4. William Dickenson,… Scizer or Knife-maker.
1643. R. Williams, Key Lang. Amer. (1866), 126. They call English-men Chauquaquock, that is, *Knive-men, stone formerly being to them in stead of Knives.
1852. W. Willison, in Midland Florist, VI. 9. Serving as knife-man in the Gateshead nursery.
a. 1763. Shenstone, On Taste, Wks. 1764, II. 320. A *knife-shaft made from the royal oak.
1835–6. Todd, Cycl. Anat., I. 312. Compressed *knife-shaped bill.
1851. Mayne Reid, Scalp Hunt., xxvii. 204. Dogs … growling over the *knife-stripped bones.
1822–34. Good’s Study Med. (ed. 4), I. 117. Cummings, the *knife-swallower.
1894. Daily Tel., 27 June, 6/7. That successful *knife-thrust.
b. Special Combs.: knife-bar, a bar bearing the knives in a cutting machine; knife-bayonet, a combined knife and bayonet, carried when not in use in a sheath, a small sword-bayonet; knife-boy, a boy employed to clean table-knives; knife-cleaner, a machine for cleaning and polishing knives; knife-dagger, an ancient form of one-edged dagger, having a long and heavy blade; knife-file, a thin and tapering file, with a very sharp edge; knife-fish, a species of carp (Cyprinus cultratus); knife-grass, a stout American sedge (Scleria latifolia) with sharp-edged leaves; knife-guard, a small metal piece or arm hinged to the back of a carving-fork to protect the hand against the slipping of the knife; knife-head, ‘that piece in the cutting apparatus of a harvester to which the knife is fastened, and to which the pitman-head is connected’ (Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl. 1884); † knife-hook, a sickle; knife-lanyard, a lanyard to which a sailor’s knife is fastened; knife-money, an ancient Chinese currency consisting of bronze shaped like a knife; knife-polisher = knife-cleaner; knife-rest, a small pillow of metal or glass on which to rest a carving-knife or -fork at table; also, a support to keep a knife in position while it is being ground; knife-scales, the sides of the haft of a knife; knife-sharpener, an instrument, usually of steel, for sharpening knives; knife-smith, a maker of knives, a cutler; † knife-stone, a hone; knife-tool, (a) a knife-shaped graver, (b) a minute disk used to cut fine lines in seal-engraving; † knife-warper, a knife-thrower, a juggler; knife-worm, a caterpillar that cuts leaves. See also KNIFE-BOARD, -EDGE, -GRINDER, -HANDLE, etc.
1881. Spon’s Encycl. Indust. Arts, 1603. *Knife-bar, with diagonal slots, to give the lateral movement as it descends.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, vi. The *knife-boy was caught stealing a cold shoulder of mutton.
1891. Month, LXXII. 19. The apple-parer and *knife-cleaner are American.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, Dict., *Knife-file, a file with a thin edge.
1799. W. Tooke, View Russian Emp., III. 176. The *knife-fish.
a. 1599. Spenser, F. Q., VII. vii. 38. In his one hand, as fit for harvests toyle, He held a *knife-hook.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Knife-rest. Ibid., *Knife-sharpener.
1884. Times, 8 Jan., 2/6. *‘Knife-scales’ are those parts of a knife that form the sides of the handle, and are usually made of horn, bone, ivory, or tortoiseshell.
1738. Wesley, Wks. (1872), I. 131. Augustine Neusser, a *knife-smith.
1886. J. Pendleton, Hist. Derbysh., 195. The knifesmith’s homely forge.
1571. Wills & Inv. N. C. (Surtees, 1835), 352. ij dosen *knyff stones and iiij dosen rebstones.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 212. He is his *knif-worpare, & pleieð mid sweordes.
1860. Emerson, Cond. Life, Fate, Wks. (Bohn), II. 327. Such an one has curculios, borers, *knife-worms.
