scythe

plural scythes · alternative archaic sithe · alternative archaic sythe · alternative zive

1. An instrument for mowing grass, grain, etc. by hand, composed of a long, curving blade with a sharp concave edge, fastened to a long handle called a snath.First known use before 10th century

   And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.

   1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 12”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   Early next morning the gudewife took a scythe on her shoulder, and went out in the fields with the hay-mowers to mow.

   1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 41

   “My roses are yellow,” it answered; “as yellow as the hair of the mermaiden who sits upon an amber throne, and yellower than the daffodil that blooms in the meadow before the mower comes with his scythe.”

   1888, Oscar Wilde, “The Nightingale and the Rose”, in The Happy Prince and Other Tales, London: Duckworth, published 1928, page 43

2. historicalA scythe-shaped blade attached to ancient war chariots.
3. cartomancyThe tenth Lenormand card.

present singular third person scythes · participle present scything · participle past scythed · past scythed · alternative archaic sithe · alternative archaic sythe · alternative zive

1. intransitiveTo use a scythe.First known use 1570s
2. transitiveTo cut with a scythe.First known use 1570s
3. transitiveTo cut off as with a scythe; to mow.First known use 1590s
4. figurativelyintransitiveoftenTo attack or injure as if cutting.

   The boy began to keen, and the high-pitched noise scythed through Song's head.

   2011, Catherine Sampson, The Pool of Unease

   1 more example

   The smaller shells make a complete slaughterhouse of the bridge, and the splinters scythe through anyone out on deck.

   2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 20:09 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 03 Nov 2022