Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Blade?

\Blade\ (bl[=a]d), n. [OE. blade, blad, AS. bl[ae]d leaf; akin to OS., D., Dan., & Sw. blad, Icel. bla[eth], OHG. blat, G. blatt, and perh. to L. folium, Gr. fy`llon. The root is prob. the same as that of AS. bl[=o]wan, E. blow, to blossom. See {Blow} to blossom, and cf. {Foil} leaf of metal.] 1. Properly, the leaf, or flat part of the leaf, of any plant, especially of gramineous plants. The term is sometimes applied to the spire of grasses. The crimson dulse . . . with its waving blade. --Percival. First the blade, then ear, after that the full corn in the ear. --Mark iv. 28. 2. The cutting part of an instrument; as, the blade of a knife or a sword. 3. The broad part of an oar; also, one of the projecting arms of a screw propeller. 4. The scapula or shoulder blade. 5. pl. (Arch.) The principal rafters of a roof. --Weale. 6. pl. (Com.) The four large shell plates on the sides, and the five large ones of the middle, of the carapace of the sea turtle, which yield the best tortoise shell. --De Colange. 7. A sharp-witted, dashing, wild, or reckless, fellow; -- a word of somewhat indefinite meaning. He saw a turnkey in a trice Fetter a troublesome blade. --Coleridge.
\Blade\ (bl[=a]d), v. t. To furnish with a blade.
\Blade\, v. i. To put forth or have a blade. As sweet a plant, as fair a flower, is faded As ever in the Muses' garden bladed. --P. Fletcher.
\Blade\, n. The flat part of the tongue immediately behind the tip, or point. ``Lower blade'' implies, of course, the lower instead of the upper surface of the tongue. --H. Sweet.