sharpener
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English
Etymology
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈʃɑː(ɹ)pənə(ɹ)/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
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.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
device for making things sharp
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