Word.ws English Dictionary

bowie knife

/ˈboʊ.i naɪf/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

literary/ˈbuːi naɪf/

bowie knife is the alternative form of Bowie knife.

Noun capitalized: Bowie knife

Bowie knife (plural Bowie knives)

  1. A large sheath knife, usually of clip point style and usually with large guards at the ricasso.
    • To ensure good behavior, the slaveholder relies on the whip; […] to imbrute and destroy his manhood, he relies on the whip, the chain, the gag, the thumb-screw, the pillory, the bowie-knife, the pistol, and the blood-hound.1855, Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York; Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC, part II (Life as a Freeman), page 430

Synonyms of bowie knife

Forms of bowie knife

pluralbowie knives
pluralBowie knives
alternative formbowie knife
alternative formbowie-knife

Origin of bowie knife

Named after American pioneer and soldier James Bowie (1796–1836) (/ˈbuːi/) who famously used such a knife as a weapon in a duel.

Questions about bowie knife

What does bowie knife mean?
Bowie knife means a large sheath knife, usually of clip point style and usually with large guards at the ricasso.
What is bowie knife the alternative form of?
Bowie knife is the alternative form of Bowie knife.
What part of speech is bowie knife?
Bowie knife is a noun.
How do you pronounce bowie knife?
Bowie knife is pronounced /ˈbuːi naɪf/ (literary).
What is the plural of bowie knife?
The plural of bowie knife is bowie knives.

Words near bowie knife in the dictionary

  1. bowhuntress
  2. bowhuntresses
  3. bowhunts
  4. bowie
  5. Bowie County
  6. bowie knife
  7. bowie knives
  8. bowie-knife
  9. Bowiean
  10. bowieite
  11. Bowieites

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bowie knife (page history and authors); Bowie knife (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Bowie knife.wav.

Cite this entry: “bowie knife.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bowie_knife. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.