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Today's Word "Snickersnee"

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Published in Vocabulary

snickersnee \SNIH-ker-snee\ (noun) - A large knife or sword.

"During Jon's evaluation, human resources manager Frank toyed with a snickersnee he described as 'a letter opener,' thereby greatly increasing Jon's already rather high anxiety level."

 

Back when pirates were swashbuckling around the seven seas, it was "steake or snye" that was the English variation on a Dutch term meaning "thrust and cut." "Steake or snye" was modified into "stick or snee," and eventually into "snick or snee," used both as a verb ("to fight with knives") and a noun ("a fight with knives"). By 1700, the phrase had been compressed into the single word "snickersnee."


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