blade
pronunciation
How to pronounce blade in British English:
UK [bleɪd]
How to pronounce blade in American English:
US [bleɪd]
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- Noun:
- especially a leaf of grass or the broad portion of a leaf as distinct from the petiole
- a dashing young man
- something long and thin resembling a blade of grass
- a cutting or thrusting weapon with a long blade
- a cut of beef from the shoulder blade
- a broad flat body part (as of the shoulder or tongue)
- the part of the skate that slides on the ice
- flat surface that rotates and pushes against air or water
- the flat part of a tool or weapon that (usually) has a cutting edge
Word Origin
- blade
- blade: [OE] The primary sense of blade appears to be ‘leaf’ (as in ‘blades of grass’, and German blatt ‘leaf’). This points back to the ultimate source of the word, the Germanic stem *bhlō-, from which English also gets bloom, blossom, and the now archaic blow ‘come into flower’. However, the earliest sense recorded for Old English blæd was the metaphorical ‘flattened, leaflike part’, as of an oar, spade, etc. The specific application to the sharp, cutting part of a sword or knife developed in the 14th century.=> bloom, blossom, blow
- blade (n.)
- Old English blæd "a leaf," but also "a leaf-like part" (of spade, oar, etc.), from Proto-Germanic *bladaz (cognates: Old Frisian bled "leaf," German Blatt, Old Saxon, Danish, Dutch blad, Old Norse blað), from PIE *bhle-to-, suffixed form (past participle) of *bhel- (3) "to thrive, bloom," possibly identical with *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell" (see bole). Extended in Middle English to shoulders (c. 1300) and swords (early 14c.). The modern use in reference to grass may be a Middle English revival, by influence of Old French bled "corn, wheat" (11c., perhaps from Germanic). The cognate in German, Blatt, is the general word for "leaf;" Laub is used collectively as "foliage." Old Norse blað was used of herbs and plants, lauf in reference to trees. This might have been the original distinction in Old English, too. Of men from 1590s; in later use often a reference to 18c. gallants, but the original exact sense, and thus signification, is uncertain.
Example
- 1. Then slide the blade out the opposite end .
- 2. Slide the new blade into the metal channel .
- 3. What cisco will likely announce this spring will be blade servers powered by virtualization .
- 4. But first would come the benediction , the words that would cut deeper than any blade .
- 5. I might find the perfect dew drop on a blade of grass and get the shot straight away .