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What is the difference between sword and knife?

sword | knife |

Knife is a coordinate term of sword.



As nouns the difference between sword and knife

is that sword is a long-bladed weapon having a handle and sometimes a hilt and designed to stab, hew, or slice while knife is a utensil or a tool designed for cutting, consisting of a flat piece of hard material, usually steel or other metal (the blade), usually sharpened on one edge, attached to a handle. The blade may be pointed for piercing.

As a verb knife is

to cut with a knife.

sword

English

Alternative forms

* (l) (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (weaponry) A long-bladed weapon having a handle and sometimes a hilt and designed to stab, hew, or slice.
  • * 1591 , William Shakespeare, Henry VI , Part III, Act II, Scene II, line 59.
    • Unsheathe your sword and dub him presently.
  • * 1786 , Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons , page 49.
    • Some swords were also made solely to thrust, and some only to cut; others were equally adapted for both.
  • Someone paid to handle a sword.
  • (tarot) A suit in the minor arcana in tarot.
  • (tarot) A card of this suit.
  • (weaving) One of the end bars by which the lay of a hand loom is suspended.

    • Derived terms

    * bastardsword * broadsword * double-edged sword * fall on one’s sword * longsword * pork sword * put to the sword * samurai sword * short sword * sword bayonet * swordbill * sword cane * swordcraft * sword dance * sword fern * swordfish * sword grass * sword knot * sword lily * sword of Damocles * swordbearer, sword-bearer * swordbearing, sword-bearing * swordplay * swordsman * swordsmanship * swordstick * sword-swallower

    Coordinate terms

    * (weaponry) bayonet, claymore, cutlass, epee, , falchion, foil, katana, knife, machete, rapier, sabre, saber, scimitar, vorpal, yataghan, yatagan

    Anagrams

    * words 1000 English basic words

    knife

    English

    Noun

    (knives)
  • A utensil or a tool designed for cutting, consisting of a flat piece of hard material, usually steel or other metal (the blade), usually sharpened on one edge, attached to a handle. The blade may be pointed for piercing.
  • * 2007 , Scott Smith, The Ruins , page 273
    • Jeff was bent low over the backboard, working with the knife , a steady sawing motion, his shirt soaked through with sweat.
  • A weapon designed with the aforementioned specifications intended for slashing and/or stabbing and too short to be called a sword. A dagger.
  • Any blade-like part in a tool or a machine designed for cutting, such as the knives for a chipper.

    • Derived terms

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    See also

    * athame * bayonet * bistoury * cake slice, cake-slice * dagger * poniard * scalpel * stiletto * (wikipedia "knife")

    Verb

    (knif)
  • To cut with a knife .
  • To use a knife' to injure or kill by stabbing, slashing, or otherwise using the sharp edge of the ' knife as a weapon.
  • To cut through as if with a knife .
  • To betray, especially in the context of a political slate.
  • To positively ignore, especially in order to denigrate. compare cut