penknifen.
/ˈpɛnnʌɪf/, U.S. /ˈpɛnˌnaɪf/ Originally: a small knife for use in making and mending quill pens (now rare). Now usually: a pocket knife with one or more blades (and occasionally other tools) designed to fold back into the handle when not in use.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > cutting tool > knife > [noun] > penknife
penknifea1425
desk-knife1833
Swiss Army knife1935
a1425 Medulla Gram. (Stonyhurst) f. 58 Scalprum, a pen knyfe.
1491 in J. P. Collier Househ. Bks. John Duke of Norfolk & Thomas Earl of Surrey (1844) 514 Item, payd, the xx. day of Decembir, for a penknyff j. d.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Jer. xxxvi. 23 He cut the boke in peces with a penne knyfe.
c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) iii. 20 Cesar..gat .xxii straikis vitht pen knyuis in the capitol.
1658 W. Sanderson Graphice 81 Sharpen then with a pen-knife.
1698 Protestant Mercury 30 Mar. No. 252. 2/1 Two Butchers Fighting..one of them holding the other down, with a Pen Knife, cut out his Eye.
1714 H. Wanley Lett. 30 Aug. (1989) 302 Part of them were burned..and others industriously mangled with the penknife.
1801 M. Edgeworth Belinda II. xv. 104 She shut the penknife which lay upon the table.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. xvii. 318 Was it [sc. the crack] sufficiently wide to permit the blade of my penknife to enter it?
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. xvii. [Ithaca] 636 Combined pocket twoblade penknife with corkscrew, nailfile and pipecleaner.
1980 United Press Internat. Newswire (Nexis) 17 Nov. Glaser recreates a small piece of history with each stroke of his penknife... Glaser makes..quill pens.
2002 Church Times 5 July 17/3 The paper bearing the design is now laid on the clay, and the pattern is pricked out, using a knitting-needle, penknife, or tailor's pricking-wheel.
Compounds
General attributive.† penknife sheath n. Obsolete
penknife blade n.
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1827 Times 11 Sept. 3/4 The penknife blade was open.
1955 K. Hutton & A. Swallow Chem. for Gen. Sci. viii. 100 Scoop a small conical hole in a charcoal block with an old penknife blade, and fill the hole with lead oxide (litharge).
2003 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 27 Feb. 21 Any spongy or hollow-sounding timber that's easily pierced with a penknife blade should be checked by a professional.
penknife handle n.
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1821 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 6 Oct. 3/5 Blades, of the best cast steel, put in Pen-knive handles, and warranted good.
1845 J. Coulter Adventures Pacific xii. 157 The..length of a penknife handle.
1998 Timber & Wood Products (Nexis) 25 July 46 Small blocks of beech (and other species)..are shipped to a nearby factory to make penknife handles.
penknife-maker n.
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1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Coltellinaio, a pen knife maker.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Ganivetier, a pen-knife-maker.
1831 Times 18 Mar. 4/4 The best razor, razor-strop, and penknife-maker, in England, and the cheapest too.
1912 Times 2 Oct. 37/2 Mr. John Mitchell..came as a penknife-maker from Sheffield and settled in Birmingham.
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a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. iv. 326 Your penknife sheath for him to pull open and shut again.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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