razor

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Any tool or instrument designed for shaving.

   These are fellows who shun the three-, four- and five-blade contraptions and canned goops for an older mode of shaving that they insist remains the ideal: a straight razor or a safety razor with a double-edged blade, and a fine English cream lathered and applied with a badger-hair brush.

2. 2
   noun

   A conceptual device that allows one to shave away unlikely explanations for a phenomenon.

   Occam's razor, Hanlon's razor

3. 3
   verb

   To shave with a razor.

   He thought likewise, that what with razoring and tanning, and the change of his clothes, he was not likely to be recognised.

4. 4
   noun

   edge tool used in shaving

5. 5
   verb

   shave with a razor

6. 6
   noun

   A keen-edged knife of peculiar shape, used in shaving the hair from the face or other parts of the body.

7. 7
   noun

   The sharp tusk of a wild boar.

8. 8
   name

   A surname.

Etymology

From Middle English rasour, from Old French rasour, from raser (“to scrape, to shave”). More at rat. By surface analysis, raze + -or. Displaced the native Old English sċierseax (literally “shaving knife”).