couteau

English

Alternative forms

• cutto, cuttoe

Etymology

From French couteau. Doublet of cuttle.

Noun

couteau (plural couteaus or couteaux)

1. (obsolete) A knife; a dagger.
   • 1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter III, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume (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

• “couteau”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• autocue

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ku.to/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

couteau m (plural couteaux)

1. knife

   Synonym: (slang) schlass

2. razor clam; any bivalve in the genus Solen.

Derived terms

• à couper au couteau
• à couteaux tirés
• couteau à beurre
• couteau à cran d’arrêt
• couteau à fromage
• couteau à fruit
• couteau à huîtres
• couteau à pain
• couteau à palette
• couteau à poisson
• couteau à viande
• couteau de chasse
• couteau de chef
• couteau de cuisine
• couteau d’office
• couteau suisse
• enfoncer le couteau dans la plaie
• Nuit des Longs Couteaux
• remuer le couteau dans la plaie

 

Related terms

• coutelier

See also

• fourchette

Further reading

• “couteau”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.