Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A knife designed for use in opening oysters, having ordinarily a strong handle and a rather long and slender blade.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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After opening one of the largest, (using his cutlass as an oyster-knife), and making the experiment with due deliberation, he announced himself perfectly satisfied.
The Island Home Richard Archer
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Tom remembered well what would have been his portion, as he sat on the dirty cellar steps and pegged away with his oyster-knife.
Harper's Young People, January 13, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly Various
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Yes, -- about as "easy" as "easy shaving" with a serrated oyster-knife!
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 100, April 25, 1891 Various
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Or wash oysters in the shell and put them on hot coals, or upon the top of a hot stove, or bake them in a hot oven; open the shells with an oyster-knife, taking care to lose none of the liquor.
The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) The Whole Comprising a Comprehensive Cyclopedia of Information for the Home Mrs. F.L. Gillette
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The little craft, which was a dapper cutter with an oyster-knife sort of bow and a clean run aft, as if she could race well when heeling over and show a good deal of her copper sheathing, did not exceed the tonnage mentioned by the Captain.
Bob Strong's Holidays Adrift in the Channel John B. [Illustrator] Greene
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Last night, on being childishly solicited for twopence, to buy 'lemon-stunners' - a local sweetmeat - he presented an oyster-knife at the twins!
David Copperfield Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 1917
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Lords asked him what he proposed doing with the two sacks crammed full of abusive letters addressed to him there by correspondents who thus obeyed a vulgar editor's suggestion, Lord Haldane replied with very good humour, "I have an oyster-knife in my kitchen and an excellent scullery-maid in my establishment: I shall see only my personal letters."
The Mirrors of Downing Street Some Political Reflections by a Gentleman with a Duster Harold Begbie 1900
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He was working at the time, and he spoke in loud, coarse tones, as he wielded his oyster-knife, having for an audience the usual dozen barroom tarriers.
Tales from Bohemia Robert Neilson Stephens 1886
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Her betrothal ring will not come off, Giuseppe; but the delicate bone snaps easily: your oyster-knife can sever the tendon ...
Chita: a Memory of Last Island Lafcadio Hearn 1877
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I say, can't you invent a new kind of thing -- a sort of patent oyster-knife to open stupid fellows 'understanding?
The Weathercock Being the Adventures of a Boy with a Bias George Manville Fenn 1870
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