Stanley knife

plural Stanley knives

1. AustraliaNew ZealandUKA type of retractable utility knife with a replaceable blade.

   He gripped his Stanley knife and swung open the door almost detaching it from its hinges.

   2003, Anthony Hulse, Insanity Never Sleeps, Mediaworld, UK, page 30

   3 more examples

   Hotels expect to lose ashtrays, coat hangers and towels, for me it was Stanley knives. I didn′t mind a bit! If anyone bought a ₤35 a carpet, they were more than welcome to a 50 pence knife.

   1988, Dennis Sloan, The Twenty-Third Little Varmint, published 2005, page 126

   […]the trams floating slowly down Swanston Street, paper-sellers cutting open bundles with Stanley knives, the smell of ground coffee from the downstairs cafe,[…].

   2002, Guy Rundle, “Up from the Dead”, in Peter Craven, editor, The Best Australian Essays 2002, page 187

   Manchester′s ‘golden boys’, Joy Division, had recently been devastated by the death of their singer, Ian Curtis: that good-looking, sad young man had made a spectacular exit by carving a smile on his face with a Stanley knife before hanging himself.

   2004, David Bret, Morrissey: Scandal & Passion, page 34