blade

[bleyd] /bleɪd/
noun
1.
the flat cutting part of a sword, knife, etc.
2.
a sword, rapier, or the like.
3.
a similar part, as of a mechanism, used for clearing, wiping, scraping, etc.:
the blade of a windshield wiper; the blade of a bulldozer.
4.
the arm of a propeller or other similar rotary mechanism, as an electric fan or turbine.
5.
Botany.
  1. the leaf of a plant, especially of a grass or cereal.
  2. the broad part of a leaf, as distinguished from the stalk or petiole.
6.
the metal part of an ice skate that comes into contact with the ice.
7.
a thin, flat part of something, as of an oar or a bone:
shoulder blade.
8.
a dashing, swaggering, or jaunty young man:
a gay blade from the nearby city.
9.
a swordsman.
10.
Phonetics.
  1. the foremost and most readily flexible portion of the tongue, including the tip and implying the upper and lower surfaces and edges.
  2. the upper surface of the tongue directly behind the tip, lying beneath the alveolar ridge when the tongue is in a resting position.
11.
the elongated hind part of a fowl's single comb.
Origin
before 1000; Middle English; Old English blæd blade of grass; cognate with Dutch blad, Old Norse blath, German Blatt; akin to blow3
Related forms
bladeless, adjective
multiblade, noun
unblade, verb (used with object), unbladed, unblading.
Examples from the web for blade
  • The actual cutting is done between the middle and the heel of the blade, and not near the tip.
  • It also adds a smaller cutting blade and a sturdy corkscrew.
  • They seemed not to fly so much as scull the air with dark blade wings.
  • They are foot soldiers, who know they will live by the blade, and die by the blade.
  • Often the technological blade can cut either way, especially in the short run.
  • To prevent them from cannibalizing one another, their beaks are trimmed with a hot blade.
  • Between blade servers, virtual machines and green disk drives more is being done with the same or less energy.
  • Eventually, a series of batteries will be set into the rotor blade and used to selectively morph it.
  • Normally, these polymers are spread out across the substrate by spinning or using a small scraping blade.
  • There are no blades or blade changing wrench, no charger and no case.
British Dictionary definitions for blade

blade

/bleɪd/
noun
1.
the part of a sharp weapon, tool, etc, that forms the cutting edge
2.
(pl) (Austral & NZ) hand shears used for shearing sheep
3.
the thin flattish part of various tools, implements, etc, as of a propeller, turbine, etc
4.
the flattened expanded part of a leaf, sepal, or petal
5.
the long narrow leaf of a grass or related plant
6.
the striking surface of a bat, club, stick, or oar
7.
the metal runner on an ice skate
8.
(archaeol) a long thin flake of flint, possibly used as a tool
9.
the upper part of the tongue lying directly behind the tip
10.
(archaic) a dashing or swaggering young man
11.
short for shoulder blade
12.
a poetic word for a sword, swordsman
Derived Forms
bladed, adjective
Word Origin
Old English blæd; related to Old Norse blath leaf, Old High German blat, Latin folium leaf
Word Origin and History for blade
n.

Old English blæd "a leaf," but also "a leaf-like part" (of spade, oar, etc.), from Proto-Germanic *bladaz (cf. Old Frisian bled "leaf," German blatt, Old Saxon, Danish, Dutch blad, Old Norse blað), from PIE *bhle-to-, suffixed form (past participle) of *bhel- (3) "to thrive, bloom," possibly identical with *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell" (see bole). Extended in Middle English to shoulders (c.1300) and swords (early 14c.). The modern use in reference to grass may be a Middle English revival, by influence of Old French bled "corn, wheat" (11c., perhaps from Germanic). The cognate in German, Blatt, is the general word for "leaf;" Laub is used collectively as "foliage." Old Norse blað was used of herbs and plants, lauf in reference to trees. This might have been the original distinction in Old English, too. Of men from 1590s; in later use often a reference to 18c. gallants, but the original exact sense, and thus signification, is uncertain.

blade in Science
blade
  (blād)   

    1. The expanded part of a leaf or petal. Also called lamina. See more at leaf.

    2. The leaf of grasses and similar plants.

  2. A stone tool consisting of a slender, sharp-edged, unserrated flake that is at least twice as long as it is wide. Blade tools were developed late in the stone tool tradition, after core and flake tools, and were probably used especially as knives.


Slang definitions & phrases for blade

blade

noun
  1. A knife considered as a weapon; Switchblade •This sense dates back to the early 1300s (1940s+ esp underworld)
  2. A surgeon (1970s+ Hospital)
  3. A dashing young man
  4. A homosexual male
verb

To skate on in-line skates: Concerned that Mrs Onassis' son was blading on the day before her funeral (1980+)

[verb sense a shortening of Rollerblade2]


blade in the Bible

applied to the glittering point of a spear (Job 39:23) or sword (Nah. 3:3), the blade of a dagger (Judg. 3:22); the "shoulder blade" (Job 31:22); the "blade" of cereals (Matt. 13:26).