knife up

present singular third person knifes up · participle present knifing up · participle past knifed up · past knifed up · alternative knive up

1. datedTo trim the edges on a boot or shoe of bits of leather, etc. that may be attached to the sides.

   Knife up the heel to the required pitch, attach the top-piece, and round up square to the top lift.

   2016, A Classic Guide to Making and Repairing Vintage Shoes and Boots, page 103

   3 more examples

   For instance, does he suppose that the edges of samples are set only twice, the same as on regular goods, or that they are not knifed up here and there by the foreman of the making room, or that the bottom finish is not given more attention than the stock shoes?

   1901 September 25, “Random Notes”, in Boot and Shoe Recorder, volume 39, number 26, page 53

   Next, it is knifed up. That is to say, the whole periphery of the heel, now rugged and uneven with the new pieces which have been added in the "making-up" process, is brought into line with the top-piece and the seat of the heel.

   1919, The Modern Boot and Shoe Maker, page 37

   The seat must be knifed-up very cleanly, as shown from A to C all the stitches being entirely covered, and the extreme edge of the seat A C being close to the upper leather D.

   2011, Paul N. Hasluck, Boot Making and Mending, page 150

2. broadlyTo trim with a knife.

   Firgure 3 shows a typical laser cut die before knifing-up. In this case there are 60 cartons cut at one time.

   1970, Conference on Electrical Methods of Machining, Forming and Coating, page 4

   2 more examples

   The following mishap and its repair, I think, end to show marine engineers aboard tramp steamers the value of taking care of what appeared at the time to be useless articles; for it proved to me the advantage of having retained from the junk dealer an old windlass stop valve which had been knifed up, or rather the valve seat had been knifed up so often that it had become thin enough to allow steam to pass through the somewhat porous metal of which it was made.

   1911 January, “Making Use of Odds and Ends”, in International Marine Engineering, volume 16, page 36

   The writer ran up against a particularly bad case in which some hundreds of holes had to be knifed up, and in many cases recessed to a depth of ⅜-inch, as it was necessary that bolts of uniform length should be used in erection.

   1918 July 4, T.E.B, “Cutters and Cutter Bars”, in Machinery and Production Engineering, volume 12, page 381

3. To extract a morsel or dab (of something) with a knife.

   He knifed up a morsel, wandered on, chewing happily.

   1959, Margaret Alison Johansen, Voyagers West, page 67

   3 more examples

   You knifed up communal butter or jam without bothering to clean your knife of previous food;

   2001, Edge of the World: Ross Island, Antarctica, page 298

   They leaned forward to look at each other past Cindy, who was squinting at them narrowly as she knifed up a mixed forkful of pork tenderloin, braised apple-and-walnut cabbage and maple-glazed sweet potatoes, part in question, part in accusation.

   2010, Clanash Farjeon, The Vampires of Ciudad Juarez, page 254

   He knifed up a wedge of butter and flopped it into the pan.

   2011, Elizabeth George, In The Presence Of The Enemy

4. To cut up or carve up with a knife.

   Elkins had knifed up Hines pretty good before running out.

   2012, Lee Collins, The Dead of Winter

   3 more examples

   Stockton attacks him, gets knifed up himself, but manages to get away.

   2014, Cameron Judd, Kenton's Challenge

   I heard loads of stories of young guys being knifed up just for straying into the wrong ends.

   2017, Imran Mahmood, You Don't Know Me

   Not wanting it to go to waste, Mason quickly knifed up and separated the hindquarters, skinned it and carved away the tendinous fascia, then put the meat of it in their oversized camp pot for a long simmer with a little mirepoix, potatoes, and boxed wine.

   2022, Lucas Roman, The Greater Fool

5. figurativelyTo slice through; to cut or traverse a path through or between.

   Weeds knifed up through the cracked cement walkway .

   2008 ·, Ami Silber, Early Bright, page 58

   4 more examples

   Nosegay loafed along at five knots as it knifed up the yacht basin, passing the line of marinas that laced the inner shore of Shelter Island.

   2005, John McPeek, Loma View

   A long gouge had been cut in the pristine white sand, a gouge that began at the water's edge, knifed up the sand, and stopped at the rocks at the end of the beach.

   2005, Jane Anderson, Mayday

   Her hands knifed up between them, then around his neck.

   2014, Dianna Love, Last Chance To Run

   The shark knifed up through the foam, glistening slickly in the moonlight.

   2016, Jerrold Mundis, Slave Ship

6. figurativelyTo penetrate sharply upward.

   A strange noise knifed up from below.

   2015, Greg Kihn, Horror Show

   4 more examples

   He leaped almost into the teeth of the blue-tinged ray which knifed up with uncanny accuracy from the slit in the roof of the hut.

   2011, Anthony Gilmore, Raiders Invisible

   The glass was close enough that the alcohol fumes knifed up her nostrils.

   2012, Kathleen O'Brien, For The Love Of Family

   She stood wobbling with pain and hunger, and all around her blades of raw yellow wood knifed up, kris-edged, from their stumps; poised flame in its near-primal form, one step removed from the sun.

   2015, Nancy Springer, Apocalypse

   "Nell," he whispered, and the light knifed up at him, blinding him.

   2019, Geoffrey Homes, The Case of the Unhappy Angels

7. figurativelyTo move in a stabbing or penetrating manner

   Cold draughts knifed up between the duckboards.

   1970, Mary Stewart, The Crystal Cave

   3 more examples

   A gust of wind knifed up the street making him glad of the thick fur of his costume.

   2012, Vicki Jarrett, Nothing Is Heavy

   Espel turned up her collar as the freezing wind knifed up the street.

   2013, Tom Pollock, The Glass Republic

   He'd left the relative warmth of the subway, and an icy breeze knifed up the narrow street and penetrated his thin quilted jacket.

   2013, Serena Bell, Still So Hot!, page 196

8. figurativelyTo traverse up the body in a quick stabbing sensation

   A shudder knifed up her back .

   2012, David Corbett, Done for a Dime

   3 more examples

   Pain knifed up his leg as he landed, the ladder atop him.

   2007, Allison Lane, The Duchess's Diary

   The old pain knifed up from some cellar in his chest now and burned with an intensity he'd thought had burned itself out.

   2010, Lewis Perdue, Zaibatsu

   A cold shiver knifed up my back .

   2012, J. B. Fisher, Outside of Paradise: Growing Up Amish, page 296

9. figurativelyTo sit up or stand up suddenly.

   He knifed up, startled from a dream.

   2014, Glen Craney, The Yanks Are Starving

   2 more examples

   I knifed up on the bed. Clean sober awake.

   2000, Peter F. Hamilton, A Second Chance at Eden

   He knifed up into the other side, rounded the truck in her huge yard and headed back to the gate.

   2017, Kristen Ashley, The Time in Between

10. To rise precipitously.

    Above the trees and parallel to the line of darkness, everlasting Everest knifed up into the sky with dreadful majesty.

    2017, Keith Devine, Wilderness of Ice

    2 more examples

    Bond took a last gulp of breath and got going again, still left-handed, away from the cable railway, towards the next flag, a distant dot on the edge of the shadow thrown by the great Matterhorn-shaped peak of Piz Gloria, which knifed up into the spangled sky in dreadful majesty.

    1963, Ian Fleming, On Her Majesty's Secret Service

    Soon, all but the most persistent scrub disappeared and nearly sheer cliffs knifed up on either side, catching the afternoon sun in black shadows and brown rock.

    2022, Jeanne Reames, Dancing with the Lion, page Jeanne Reames