Etymology

night of the long knives

Today it means: A purge, in which opponents of a regime or political party are killed or removed. Full definition →

German Nacht der langen Messer
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night of the long knives · noun1

  1. German · calque ofNacht der langen Messer
  2. English todaynight of the long knives

Calque of German Nacht der langen Messer, which see for more. In English it tied in with earlier uses of the motif of long knives, as in phrases like the Treachery of the Long Knives (a pseudohistorical massacre of Celts by Anglo-Saxons), used since at least the 1800s.

Night of the Long Knives · noun2

See night of the long knives.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.