knife grinder

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a person whose trade is sharpening knives and other edged tools, traditionally while traveling from place to place

   The knife grinder pushed his wheeled grindstone from village to village.

2. 2
   noun

   a machine or abrasive device used to grind or sharpen knife blades

   The butcher adjusted the knife grinder before sharpening the worn blade.

An English compound of knife + grinder. Knife descends from Old English cnif, probably borrowed from Old Norse knifr. Grinder is the agent noun of grind, continuing Old English grindere ('one or something that grinds'). The term named an itinerant sharpening trade before also denoting a sharpening device.

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