shiv
See also: Shiv
English
Etymology
First attested 1915. From chive, chieve, chife, chiv (“knife”), from Romani chive, chiv, chivvomengro (“knife, dagger, blade”).[1][2][3][4]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʃɪv/
- Rhymes: -ɪv
Noun
shiv (plural shivs)
- A knife, especially a makeshift one fashioned from something not normally used as a weapon (like a plastic spoon or a toothbrush).
- A particular woody by-product of processing flax or hemp.
Synonyms
- (improvised stabbing weapon): shank (slang)
Derived terms
Verb
shiv (third-person singular simple present shivs, present participle shivving, simple past and past participle shivved)
- To stab someone with a shiv.
- (by extension) To stab someone with anything not normally used as a stabbing weapon.
Synonyms
- shank (slang)
Translations
stab
References
- “shiv” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019, retrieved 6 July 2017: “"a razor," 1915, variant of chive, thieves' cant word for "knife" (1670s), of unknown origin.”.
- “shiv” in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary.
- “shiv” in Michael Agnes, editor-in-chief, Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th edition, Cleveland, Oh.: Wiley, 2010, →ISBN; reproduced on the Collins English Dictionary, Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers, retrieved 6 July 2017: “Word origin of 'shiv': earlier chiv, prob. < Romany chiv, blade”.
- “shiv” (US) / “shiv” (UK) in Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press. "Probably from Romany chiv ‘blade’."
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