blade
/bleɪd/ · blade
noun
- The sharp cutting edge of a knife, chisel, razor, sword, or similar tool. He slipped on the blade of the kitchen knife and cut his finger.
- The flat, functional end of a propeller, oar, hockey stick, screwdriver, skate, etc. The airplane's left blade was slightly bent after the turbulence.
- A narrow leaf of grass, cereal, or similar plant. The wheat field swayed, each blade catching the morning light.
- A small piton designed for placement in thin cracks by climbers. She placed a blade into the narrow fissure to protect the rope.
verb
- To skate on rollerblades. Do you want to go blading at the park this weekend?
- To furnish or equip with a blade. The manufacturer bladed the new model of the electric saw for extra precision.
- To put forth or have a blade; to sprout a blade (as a plant). In early spring the lawn begins to blade again after the frost.
Did you know? Although today we think of a blade as a cutting tool, the word originally meant ‘leaf’ in Old English, and the mechanical sense emerged only centuries later.