Dictionary

knive en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /naɪv/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Attested since at least 1733. Knife (verb), which is now 150 times more common, is first attested in the 1860s. Related to knife (“short blade”, noun); compare strife (noun), strive (verb).

Meanings

1. (form-of, rare) Rare form of knife.
   form of knife
   • Our brains always ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us. 1917/1918, Wilfred Owen, “Exposure”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
   • I could feel my fingernails kniving into my palms. 2010, James Lee Burke, The Convict And Other Stories, →ISBN:
   • all small weak Shoots should be cut close to the main Stems; and (generally speaking) nipping with your Nails, is a better Way than kniving of them. 1733, Practical Husbandman and Planter:
   • Great sheets of rain began kniving horizontally like slashing shards. 2014, Steve Ruedlinger, Almost Paradise, →ISBN, page 30:
   • The Greeks were always fighting, drunk, and kniving each other. 2009, Kathleen Mapes, Sweet Tyranny, →ISBN, page 161:

Forms

Deriveds

knive up