English

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Etymology

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Attested since at least 1733. Knife (verb), which is now 150 times more common, is first attested in the 1860s.[1] Related to knife (short blade, noun); compare strife (noun), strive (verb).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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knive (third-person singular simple present knives, present participle kniving, simple past and past participle knived)

  1. Rare form of knife.
    • 1733, Practical Husbandman and Planter:
      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.
    • 1917/1918, Wilfred Owen, “Exposure”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      Our brains always ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us.
    • 2009, Kathleen Mapes, Sweet Tyranny, →ISBN, page 161:
      The Greeks were always fighting, drunk, and kniving each other.
    • 2010, James Lee Burke, The Convict And Other Stories, →ISBN:
      I could feel my fingernails kniving into my palms.
    • 2014, Steve Ruedlinger, Almost Paradise, →ISBN, page 30:
      Great sheets of rain began kniving horizontally like slashing shards.

References

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  1. ^ knive”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  2. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary

Anagrams

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Danish

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Noun

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knive c

  1. indefinite plural of kniv