couteau

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English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From French couteau. Doublet of cuttle.

Noun[edit]

couteau (plural couteaus or couteaux)

  1. (obsolete) A knife; a dagger.
    • 1819, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter III, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:
      "Brave!—brave enough, I warrant you," answered Norman; "I was in the wood at Tyninghame, when there was a sort of gallants hunting with my lord; on my saul, there was a buck turned to bay made us all stand back; a stout old Trojan of the first-head, ten-tyned branches, and a brow as broad as e'er a bullock's. Egad, he dashed at the old lord, and there would have been inlake among the peerage, if the Master had not whipt roundly in, and hamstrung him with his cutlace. He was but sixteen then, bless his heart!"
      "And is he as ready with the gun as with the couteau?" said Sir William.
      "He'll strike this silver dollar out from between my finger and thumb at fourscore yards, and I'll hold it out for a gold merk; what more would ye have of eye, hand, lead, and gunpowder?"

References[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Inherited from Old French coutel, from Latin cultellus, diminutive of culter (“knife, plough blade”); cognate with Italian coltello. Not related to couper.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ku.to/
  • audio(file)

Noun[edit]

couteau m (plural couteaux)

  1. knife
    Synonym: (slang) schlass
  2. razor clam; any bivalve in the genus Solen.

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

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Further reading[edit]

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