switchblade

plural switchblades · alternative switch blade · alternative switch-blade

1. A folding knife with a blade which opens automatically (under spring pressure) when a button is pressed.

present singular third person switchblades · participle present switchblading · participle past switchbladed · past switchbladed · alternative switch blade · alternative switch-blade

1. transitiveTo attack or cut with a switchblade.

   Finally there was Jackie, the gold-toothed gang member (as she liked to remind us) who'd switchbladed thirty or forty or fifty people

   2016, Daniel Kraus, The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Volume Two: Empire Decayed, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   I got terrible hangovers from the cheap booze; and, one night, I almost got switchbladed when I put my arm around the wrong "lady of the night.

   1987, Ron Rearick, Doug Murren, Iceman, →ISBN, page 53

   They are the American dream torn asunder, like clean fresh laundry left drying on the clothesline, switchbladed by bored boys of summer.

   2015, Paul Maher Jr., Caitlin Stuart, Love That Loves Us: Reflections on the Films of Terrence Malick, →ISBN

2. intransitiveTo spring open or up.

   He ticked off the facts, switchblading out a finger for each one.

   2015, Jeffrey Bartsch, Two Across, →ISBN

   3 more examples

   Switchblading open their silvery cell phones, they call their mortgage brokers and say “Buy.”

   2007, Richard Canning, Between Men: Best New Gay Fiction, →ISBN, page 253

   Steering and stabilization fins switchblading out, followed by the wings.

   2007, David Poyer, The Command: A Novel, →ISBN, page 190

   I stood there waiting for the three remaining Rottweilers to come barreling toward the fence, fangs switchbladed open.

   2009, Erik Raschke, The Book of Samuel: A Novel, →ISBN, page 200

3. ambitransitiveTo (cause to) make a sudden move or transition.

   The lantern began swinging to its own rhythm, switchblading light all over the tent.

   2014, Carol Muske-Dukes, Dear Digby: A Novel, →ISBN

   3 more examples

   He briefly rocked medical school, switchbladed to accounting and finally joked his first radio script in 1938.

   1963, Cleveland Amory, Earl Blackwell, Celebrity Register

   The play's principal comic manoeuvre is to have concern switchblading into callousness.

   2002, Plays International - Volume 18, page 15

   Daniel's smile is fixed, but his eyes are switchblading from side to side, looking at Paula, looking for an exit.

   2007, Lynn Hoffman, Bang Bang, →ISBN, page 76