kerf en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
- /kɜː(ɹ)f/
Etymology
From Middle English kerf, kirf, kyrf, from Old English cyrf (“an act of cutting, a cutting off; a cutting instrument”), from Proto-West Germanic *kurbi, from Proto-Germanic *kurbiz (“a cut; notch; clipping”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- (“to scratch”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Käärf, West Frisian kerf, Swedish korv. Related also to Dutch kerf, German Low German Karve, Karv, German Kerbe.
Meanings
- (archaic) The act of cutting or carving something; a stroke or slice.
-
The groove or slit created by cutting or sawing something; an incision.
They pass through a cleft that has been made across a low range of hills, like a kerf in the top of a log, and enter into a lovely territory of subtly swelling emerald green fields strewn randomly with small white capsules that he takes to be sheep.
1999, Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon:
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The portion or quantity (e.g. of wood, hay, turf, wool, etc.) removed or cut off in a given stroke.
1991, Popular Mechanics, January issue, page 63, "Thin-kerf blades", by Rosario Capotostro Sawing with a thin-kerf blade produces a kerf that's 1/2 to 1/3 the size of a standard blade kerf.
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The distance between diverging saw teeth.
1991, Popular Mechanics, January issue, page 63, "Thin-kerf blades", by Rosario Capotostro Sawing with a thin-kerf blade produces a kerf that's 1/2 to 1/3 the size of a standard blade kerf.
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The flattened, cut-off end of a branch or tree; a stump or sawn-off cross-section.
Sebastian, still not alone, is seated on the white-and-cinder-grey trunk of a felled tree. […] A Camberwell Beauty skims past and settles on the kerf, fanning its velvety wings.
1941, Vladimir Nabokov, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Penguin 1971 edition, page 115:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| kerfs | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Relateds
Translations (20)
de Einschnitt (the groove or slit cut in the workpiece) · de Fuge (the groove or slit cut in the workpiece) · de Nut (the groove or slit cut in the workpiece) · it intaccatura (the groove or slit cut in the workpiece) · ru пропи́л (the groove or slit cut in the workpiece) · de Schränkung (distance between diverging saw teeth) · ru зару́бка (the groove or slit cut in the workpiece) · fi lovi (the groove or slit cut in the workpiece) · de Kerbe (the groove or slit cut in the workpiece) · es traba (distance between diverging saw teeth) · sl širina reza žage (distance between diverging saw teeth) · sl zareza (distance between diverging saw teeth) · ru надру́б (the groove or slit cut in the workpiece) · sl (u)rez (the groove or slit cut in the workpiece) · fi uurros (the groove or slit cut in the workpiece) · bg рязка (the groove or slit cut in the workpiece) · de Schnittfuge (the groove or slit cut in the workpiece) · fi uurros (distance between diverging saw teeth) · fr voie (distance between diverging saw teeth) · de Schlitz (the groove or slit cut in the workpiece)