sheath knife
1
5.1
- noun
- /ʃiːθ naɪf/
:
cuchillo de vaina
- Both of Donner's hands were bloody, and he was getting blood everywhere as he cut away Rusty's underwear using his sheath knife.
Examples
-
He leaned back from the table to display a sheath knife with a folding marlin spike in its handle.
Fiction book (1992) -
He pulled his sheath knife from its case to sharpen the cutting edge.
-
I had my sheath knife on my belt, and I was afraid to look at him, afraid to hear his voice.
Fiction book (1991) -
Hell, why not?" Zavala took a diver's sheath knife out of a drawer.
Fiction book (1999) -
Descending alone uses a small, black, carbon steel sheath knife to take two hits from the vial.
Fiction book (1995) -
To the blanket and waxed-cloth groundsheet already in his knapsack, he added the cup, the little pot, and the sheath knife.
Fiction book (1997) -
Gazian perforated the wax seal with his sheath knife and sniffed the elixir.
Fiction book (1998) -
The hiker took out his sheath knife to cut through the thick underbrush.
-
To prepare the meal, she used her sheath knife to slice the vegetables.
Synonyms
A small knife with a fixed blade carried in a sheath
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a knife carried in a sheath' is directly and compositionally derived from 'sheath' (a protective cover) + 'knife' (cutting implement); the noun-noun compound transparently describes the object. This is a common, cross-linguistic compounding pattern and a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Sheath knife comes from the simple image of a knife kept in a sheath, a cover that hangs on a belt. Because the blade stays inside the sheath, it 'protects' the person and keeps the knife easy to carry and reach, so the term means a knife with a fixed blade carried in its sheath.