sharpener
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Etymology tree
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈʃɑː(ɹ)pənə(ɹ)/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
[edit]
sharpener (plural sharpeners)
- A device for making things sharp.
- There was a pencil sharpener at the front of the classroom.
- (figurative) That which makes something sharp.
- 1795, Hannah More, The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain:
- “Sir,” said the shepherd, “poverty is a great sharpener of the wits. […]
- 1872, Chambers's miscellany of instructive & entertaining tracts:
- The snuff-box, knife, and chicken-bones were again in requisition, and a pen was successfully formed. The ink, or at least its substitute, was rather more difficult, but necessity is always a sharpener of intellect, and even this was accomplished.
- (informal) An alcoholic drink taken at the start of the day, or just before a meal.
- 2026 February 23, “Rise of the ‘daycap’: is this the end of late-night drinking?”, in The Guardian[2], →ISSN:
- And the new daycap has little in common with the stiff gin of the old-fashioned sharpener. Instead, it revolves around “spritz culture, mood-based cocktails, and small serves that tap into the sweet treat economy”.
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]device for making things sharp — see also pencil sharpener
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Further reading
[edit]- “sharpener n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present.