sharpener

See also: Sharpener

English

Etymology

sharpen +‎ -er

Noun

sharpener (plural sharpeners)

1. A device for making things sharp.

   There was a pencil sharpener at the front of the classroom.

2. (figurative) That which makes something sharp.
   • 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.

Related terms

• sharp
• pencil sharpener

Translations

device for making things sharp

• Assamese: জোঙালী (züṅali)
• Chinese: 磨削器
• Dutch: slijper (nl) m
• Esperanto: akrigilo
• Finnish: teroitin
• French: affûteuse (fr) f, aiguiseur (fr) m
• Galician: chaira f, aguzadoira (gl) f
• Georgian: სათლელი (satleli)
• German: Spitzer (de) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hebrew: מְחַדֵּד (he) m (mekhadéd)
• Italian: affilatrice f
• Japanese: とぎ器
• Korean: 가는 기구 (ganeun gigu)
• Portuguese: apontador (pt), amolador (pt) m
• Russian: заточник m (zatochnik)
• Slovene: šilček (sl)
• Spanish: sacapuntas (es) m
• Tagalog: pantasa
• Vietnamese: thợ mài dao kéo

Anagrams

• resharpen