blade

noun

1. The (typically sharp-edged) part of a knife, sword, razor, or other tool with which it cuts.

   “Sword. — The blade is straight, tapers gradually, is 32 9/16 inches long from shoulder to point, and is fullered on both sides, commencing 2 inches from the shoulder, to about 17 inches from the point, to a thickness of ·035 inch.”

2. (metonymically)The (typically sharp-edged) part of a knife, sword, razor, or other tool with which it cuts.

   “Paul: Give the Harkonnen a blade and let him stand forth. Shaddam IV: If Feyd wishes, he can meet you with my blade in his hand.”

3. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)The (typically sharp-edged) part of a knife, sword, razor, or other tool with which it cuts.
4. The flat functional end or piece of a propeller, oar, hockey stick, chisel, screwdriver, skate, etc.

   “Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.”

5. The narrow leaf of a grass or cereal.
6. The thin, flat part of a plant leaf, attached to a stem (petiole).
7. A flat bone, especially the shoulder blade.
8. A cut of beef from near the shoulder blade (part of the chuck).
9. The part of the tongue just behind the tip, used to make laminal consonants.
10. A piece of prepared, sharp-edged stone, often flint, at least twice as long as it is wide; a long flake of ground-edge stone or knapped vitreous stone.
11. A throw characterized by a tight parabolic trajectory due to a steep lateral attitude.
12. The rudder, daggerboard, or centerboard of a vessel.
13. A bulldozer or surface-grading machine with mechanically adjustable blade that is nominally perpendicular to the forward motion of the vehicle.
14. (dated)A dashing young man.

    “He saw a Turnkey in a trice / Unfetter a troublesome blade;”

    “But very often blust'ring blades / Are Jerry Sneaks at home.”

    “Vice does not thrive here, because the young blades seek it elsewhere.”

    “Young blades were expected to kick over the traces and skirt disaster, before they graduated to matrimonial housekeeping.”

15. (US, slang)A homosexual, usually male.
16. (US, slang)An area of a city which is commonly known for prostitution.
17. Thin plate, foil.
18. One of a series of small plates that make up the aperture or the shutter of a camera.
19. (in-plural)The principal rafters of a roof.
20. The four large shell plates on the sides, and the five large ones of the middle, of the carapace of the sea turtle, which yield the best tortoise shell.
21. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)Ellipsis of blade server.
22. Synonym of knifeblade.
23. An exterior product of vectors. (The product may have more than two factors. Also, a scalar counts as a 0-blade, a vector as a 1-blade; an exterior product of k vectors may be called a k-blade.)
24. The part of a key that is inserted into the lock.
25. (informal)An artificial foot used by amputee athletes, shaped like an upside-down question mark.
26. (uncountable)The quality of singing with a pure, resonant sound; especially of a countertenor.

    “He wasn’t loud, but his voice had lots of blade.”

27. Someone connected with Sheffield United Football Club, as a fan, player, coach etc.

verb

1. (informal)To skate on rollerblades.

   “Want to go blading with me later in the park?”

2. (transitive)To furnish with a blade.
3. (intransitive, poetic)To put forth or have a blade.

   “As sweet a plant, as fair a flower, is faded / As ever in the Muses' garden bladed.”

4. (transitive)To stab with a blade

   “The gang member got bladed in a fight.”

5. (slang, transitive)To cut a person (usually oneself) so as to provoke bleeding.

   “Nowadays, blading happens on occasion in a televised match and more often on pay-per-view but the practice isn't used as much for several reasons, among them an increased awareness of the transmission of AIDS has made blading more dangerous.”