edge tool

plural edge tools

1. archaicA tool or weapon with a sharpened edge or blade.

   1577, Holinshed’s Chronicles, London: John Hunne, Volume 2, “Of the Marueyles of Englande,” Chapter 18, There is a Well […] in Wales, which is sayde to double or trible, the force of any edge toole that is quenched in the same.

   4 more examples

   c. 1613, Nathan Field, John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, The Honest Man’s Fortune, Act II, Scene 1, in Comedies and tragedies written by Francis Beaumont and Iohn Fletcher, London: Humphrey Robinson, 1647, I am glad he’s gon, for I do not love to see a sword drawn in the hand of a man that lookes so furious, ther’s no jesting with edge tooles, how say you Captaine?

   Your hard usage has sharpen’d your Nephew’s wits, therefore beware, don’t play with edge-tools—you’ll only cut your fingers.

   1772, David Garrick, The Irish Widow, London: T. Becket, Act II, p. 47

   “[…] I told you she took every thing, herself included, to a grindstone, and sharpened it. She is an edge-tool, and requires great care in dealing with. […]”

   1850, Charles Dickens, chapter 29, in David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, page 307

   […] children are not given their true name during the Fallows, and no Deeds are sung, nor swords nor edge-tools sharpened, nor oaths sworn.

   1968, Ursula K. Le Guin, chapter 10, in A Wizard of Earthsea, New York: Bantam, published 1975, page 170