kniving

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English

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Etymology 1

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Inflected form of knive.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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kniving

  1. present participle and gerund of knive

References

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  1. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (has the lemma knive)

Etymology 2

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Possibly from misunderstanding of the spoken word /k(ə)naɪvɪŋ/ as kniving with a pronounced k, perhaps influenced by its semantic associations with backstabbing and knives.

Adjective

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kniving (not comparable)

  1. Misconstruction of conniving
    • 2003, Carlton D. Bembry, If I Were a Card: The Things I Would Say, →ISBN, page 13:
      When your so-called friends try to smear your name with their backstabbing and kniving games, look them straight in their eyes and say, I know who I am.
    • 2011, Tommy Anthony, Somewhere Along the Line, →ISBN:
      It was enough that Frederich was a kniving back-stabber who was always working with ...
    • 2011, Juan Crazy, Succubus: Book 1 - Seven Hells, →ISBN, page 361:
      He did not share his Duke's kniving mind, nor lack of morals and he had a good friend aboard one of those boats back across the turbulent sea.

Noun

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kniving (uncountable)

  1. Misconstruction of conniving
    • 2006, Henry Pennier, Keith Thor Carlson, Kristina Rose Fagan, Call Me Hank, →ISBN, page 87:
      If I had a[sic] Indian in the car and also a sealed bottle of whiskey or a sealed case of beer and a cop stops me on a routine check I would be charged with kniving which has several meanings like the intention of giving him a drink sooner or later.