blade

plural blades

1. The (typically sharp-edged) part of a knife, sword, razor, or other tool with which it cuts.

   Sword. — The blade is straight, tapers gradually, is 32 9/16 inches long from shoulder to point, and is fullered on both sides, commencing 2 inches from the shoulder, to about 17 inches from the point, to a thickness of ·035 inch.

   1904, Great Britain. War Office, Dress Regulations for the Officers of the Army (including the Militia): 1904, page 100

   1. metonymicallyA sword or knife.

      Paul: Give the Harkonnen a blade and let him stand forth. Shaddam IV: If Feyd wishes, he can meet you with my blade in his hand.

      1984, 2:08:29 from the start, in Dune (Science Fiction), →OCLC

   2. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of razor blade.
2. The flat functional end or piece of a propeller, oar, hockey stick, chisel, screwdriver, skate, etc.

   Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.

   2013 July-August, Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in American Scientist

3. The narrow leaf of a grass or cereal.
4. biologyThe thin, flat part of a plant leaf, attached to a stem (petiole).

   Synonyms: lamina

5. A flat bone, especially the shoulder blade.
6. A cut of beef from near the shoulder blade (part of the chuck).
7. human sciencesThe part of the tongue just behind the tip, used to make laminal consonants.
8. archaeologyA piece of prepared, sharp-edged stone, often flint, at least twice as long as it is wide; a long flake of ground-edge stone or knapped vitreous stone.
9. ultimate frisbeeA throw characterized by a tight parabolic trajectory due to a steep lateral attitude.
10. nauticalThe rudder, daggerboard, or centerboard of a vessel.
11. A bulldozer or surface-grading machine with mechanically adjustable blade that is nominally perpendicular to the forward motion of the vehicle.
12. datedA dashing young man.

    He saw a Turnkey in a trice / Unfetter a troublesome blade;

    1834 [1799], Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, “The Devil's Thoughts”, in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, volume II, London: W. Pickering, page 85

    3 more examples

    But very often blust'ring blades / Are Jerry Sneaks at home.

    1832, The Universal Songster: Or, Museum of Mirth, page 189

    Vice does not thrive here, because the young blades seek it elsewhere.

    1948, Jack Lait, Lee Mortimer, New York: Confidential!, Crown, published 1951, page 94

    Young blades were expected to kick over the traces and skirt disaster, before they graduated to matrimonial housekeeping.

    2009, Amanda Vickery, Behind Closed Doors, Yale University Press, page 77

13. USslangA homosexual, usually male.
14. USslangAn area of a city which is commonly known for prostitution.
15. Thin plate, foil.
16. artsOne of a series of small plates that make up the aperture or the shutter of a camera.
17. in pluralarchitectureThe principal rafters of a roof.
18. biologyThe four large shell plates on the sides, and the five large ones of the middle, of the carapace of the sea turtle, which yield the best tortoise shell.
19. abbreviationellipsiscomputingEllipsis of blade server.
20. climbingSynonym of knifeblade.

    Synonyms: knifeblade

21. mathematicsAn exterior product of vectors. (The product may have more than two factors. Also, a scalar counts as a 0-blade, a vector as a 1-blade; an exterior product of k vectors may be called a k-blade.)
22. The part of a key that is inserted into the lock.
23. informalathleticsAn artificial foot used by amputee athletes, shaped like an upside-down question mark.
24. athleticsA cleat on a shoe, particularly one that is longer and thinner than a stud.

    They were 'Adidas Flanker' rugby shoes with six front and two heel studs; 'Puma King Pro' with four front and two heel studs; two 'Blades' boots, namely 'Mudrunner', with six front blades and four-crossed heel blades[…]

    2013 December 19, Aron Murphy, Thomas Reilly, Warwick Spinks, Science and Football IV, Routledge, →ISBN, page 5

25. athleticsA football boot equipped with blade-type cleats.

    Bruce Barry, principal lecturer in biomechanics at the institute, says: "I was very sceptical at first, but when I tested them, there was no doubt about it - you could see the players were faster in blades."

    1994, New Scientist

26. uncountableentertainmentThe quality of singing with a pure, resonant sound; especially of a countertenor.

    He wasn’t loud, but his voice had lots of blade.

present singular third person blades · participle present blading · participle past bladed · past bladed

1. informalTo skate on rollerblades.

   Want to go blading with me later in the park?

2. transitiveTo furnish with a blade.
3. intransitivepoeticTo put forth or have a blade.

   As sweet a plant, as fair a flower, is faded / As ever in the Muses' garden bladed.

   1633, Phineas Fletcher, “Elisa”, in Piscatorie Eclogues and other Poetical Miscellanies

4. transitiveTo stab with a blade

   The gang member got bladed in a fight.

5. slangtransitivegovernmentTo cut a person (usually oneself) so as to provoke bleeding.

   Nowadays, blading happens on occasion in a televised match and more often on pay-per-view but the practice isn't used as much for several reasons, among them an increased awareness of the transmission of AIDS has made blading more dangerous.

   2008 February 10, Andrea Adelson, “Reality is often blurred”, in Orlando Sentinel, page C7

plural Blades

1. ball gamesSomeone connected with Sheffield United Football Club, as a fan, player, coach etc.