blade
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: blād
ipa: /bleɪd/
rhymes: -eɪd
Forms: form: blades
Etymology: From Middle English blade, blad, from Old English blæd (“leaf”), from Proto-West Germanic *blad, from Proto-Germanic *bladą, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥h₃-o-to-m, from *bʰleh₃- (“to thrive, bloom”).
See also West Frisian bled, Dutch blad, German Blatt, Danish blad, Irish bláth (“flower”), Welsh blodyn (“flower”), Tocharian A pält, Tocharian B pilta (“leaf”), Albanian fletë (“leaf”). Similar usage in German Sägeblatt (“saw blade”, literally “saw leaf”). Doublet of blat. More at blow.
Senses: examples: text: Sword. — The blade is straight, tapers gradually, is 32 9/16 inches long from shoulder to point, and is fullered on both sides, commencing 2 inches from the shoulder, to about 17 inches from the point, to a thickness of ·035 inch.
ref: 1904, Great Britain. War Office, Dress Regulations for the Officers of the Army (including the Militia): 1904, page 100:
glosses: The (typically sharp-edged) part of a knife, sword, razor, or other tool with which it cuts.
examples: text: Paul: Give the Harkonnen a blade and let him stand forth.
Shaddam IV: If Feyd wishes, he can meet you with my blade in his hand.
ref: 1984, 2:08:29 from the start, in Dune (Science Fiction), →OCLC:
glosses: The (typically sharp-edged) part of a knife, sword, razor, or other tool with which it cuts.
A sword or knife.
glosses: The (typically sharp-edged) part of a knife, sword, razor, or other tool with which it cuts.
Ellipsis of razor blade.
examples: text: Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.
ref: 2013 July-August, Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in American Scientist:
glosses: The flat functional end or piece of a propeller, oar, hockey stick, chisel, screwdriver, skate, etc.
glosses: The narrow leaf of a grass or cereal.
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
synonyms: lamina
glosses: The thin, flat part of a plant leaf, attached to a stem (petiole).
glosses: A flat bone, especially the shoulder blade.
glosses: A cut of beef from near the shoulder blade (part of the chuck).
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
phonetics
phonology
sciences
glosses: The part of the tongue just behind the tip, used to make laminal consonants.
topics: archaeology
history
human-sciences
sciences
glosses: A piece of prepared, sharp-edged stone, often flint, at least twice as long as it is wide; a long flake of ground-edge stone or knapped vitreous stone.
qualifier: ultimate frisbee
glosses: A throw characterized by a tight parabolic trajectory due to a steep lateral attitude.
topics: nautical
sailing
transport
glosses: The rudder, daggerboard, or centerboard of a vessel.
glosses: A bulldozer or surface-grading machine with mechanically adjustable blade that is nominally perpendicular to the forward motion of the vehicle.
examples: text: He saw a Turnkey in a trice / Unfetter a troublesome blade;
ref: 1834 [1799], Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, “The Devil's Thoughts”, in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, volume II, London: W. Pickering, page 85:
text: But very often blust'ring blades / Are Jerry Sneaks at home.
ref: 1832, The Universal Songster: Or, Museum of Mirth, page 189:
text: Vice does not thrive here, because the young blades seek it elsewhere.
ref: 1948, Jack Lait, Lee Mortimer, New York: Confidential!, Crown, published 1951, page 94:
text: Young blades were expected to kick over the traces and skirt disaster, before they graduated to matrimonial housekeeping.
ref: 2009, Amanda Vickery, Behind Closed Doors, Yale University Press, page 77:
glosses: A dashing young man.
glosses: A homosexual, usually male.
glosses: An area of a city which is commonly known for prostitution.
glosses: Thin plate, foil.
topics: arts
hobbies
lifestyle
photography
glosses: One of a series of small plates that make up the aperture or the shutter of a camera.
topics: architecture
glosses: The principal rafters of a roof.
topics: biology
natural-sciences
glosses: The four large shell plates on the sides, and the five large ones of the middle, of the carapace of the sea turtle, which yield the best tortoise shell.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: Ellipsis of blade server.
topics: climbing
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Synonym of knifeblade.
synonyms: word: knifeblade
topics: mathematics
sciences
holonyms: multivector
glosses: An exterior product of vectors. (The product may have more than two factors. Also, a scalar counts as a 0-blade, a vector as a 1-blade; an exterior product of k vectors may be called a k-blade.)
coordinate_terms: bow
glosses: The part of a key that is inserted into the lock.
topics: athletics
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
coordinate_terms: bladerunner
blade jumper
leaf spring
glosses: An artificial foot used by amputee athletes, shaped like an upside-down question mark.
examples: text: He wasn’t loud, but his voice had lots of blade.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: The quality of singing with a pure, resonant sound; especially of a countertenor.
Derived terms: axeblade
bladebone
bladebreaker
blade connector
bladejob
blade jumper
bladeless
bladelet
bladelike
blade of grass
blade-out
bladepoint
bladerunner
blade server
blade sharpener
bladesmith
bladesmithing
bladewise
bladework
blisk
blucket
brush blade
doctor blade
fan blade
flat-blade screwdriver
gay blade
healing blade
interblade
lockblade
microblade
microblading
multiblade
nanoblade
oar blade
oyster blade
oyster blade steak
razor blade
razor-blade
razorblade
reblade
rollerblade
sawblade
shortblade
shoulder blade
shoulderblade
shoulder-blade
sideblade
snowblade
switchblade
twayblade
twiblade
vibroblade
warblade