knife up

Verb

knife up (third-person singular simple present knifes up, present participle knifing up, simple past and past participle knifed up)

1. (dated) To trim the edges on a boot or shoe of bits of leather, etc. that may be attached to the sides.
   • For instance, does he suppose that the edges of samples are set only twice, the same as on regular goods, or that they are not knifed up here and there by the foreman of the making room, or that the bottom finish is not given more attention than the stock shoes?1901 September 25, “Random Notes”, in Boot and Shoe Recorder, volume 39, number 26, page 53
   • Next, it is knifed up. That is to say, the whole periphery of the heel, now rugged and uneven with the new pieces which have been added in the "making-up" process, is brought into line with the top-piece and the seat of the heel.1919, The Modern Boot and Shoe Maker, page 37
2. (broadly) To trim with a knife.
   • The following mishap and its repair, I think, end to show marine engineers aboard tramp steamers the value of taking care of what appeared at the time to be useless articles; for it proved to me the advantage of having retained from the junk dealer an old windlass stop valve which had been knifed...1911 January, “Making Use of Odds and Ends”, in International Marine Engineering, volume 16, page 36
   • The writer ran up against a particularly bad case in which some hundreds of holes had to be knifed up, and in many cases recessed to a depth of ⅜-inch, as it was necessary that bolts of uniform length should be used in erection.1918 July 4, T.E.B, “Cutters and Cutter Bars”, in Machinery and Production Engineering, volume 12, page 381
3. To extract a morsel or dab (of something) with a knife.
   • He knifed up a morsel, wandered on, chewing happily.1959, Margaret Alison Johansen, Voyagers West, page 67
   • You knifed up communal butter or jam without bothering to clean your knife of previous food;2001, Edge of the World: Ross Island, Antarctica, page 298
4. To cut up or carve up with a knife.
   • Elkins had knifed up Hines pretty good before running out.2012, Lee Collins, The Dead of Winter
   • Stockton attacks him, gets knifed up himself, but manages to get away.2014, Cameron Judd, Kenton's Challenge
5. (figuratively) To slice through; to cut or traverse a path through or between.
   • Nosegay loafed along at five knots as it knifed up the yacht basin, passing the line of marinas that laced the inner shore of Shelter Island.2005, John McPeek, Loma View
   • A long gouge had been cut in the pristine white sand, a gouge that began at the water's edge, knifed up the sand, and stopped at the rocks at the end of the beach.2005, Jane Anderson, Mayday
6. (figuratively) To penetrate sharply upward.
   • He leaped almost into the teeth of the blue-tinged ray which knifed up with uncanny accuracy from the slit in the roof of the hut.2011, Anthony Gilmore, Raiders Invisible
   • The glass was close enough that the alcohol fumes knifed up her nostrils.2012, Kathleen O'Brien, For The Love Of Family
7. (figuratively) To move in a stabbing or penetrating manner
   • Cold draughts knifed up between the duckboards.1970, Mary Stewart, The Crystal Cave
   • A gust of wind knifed up the street making him glad of the thick fur of his costume.2012, Vicki Jarrett, Nothing Is Heavy
8. (figuratively) To traverse up the body in a quick stabbing sensation
   • Pain knifed up his leg as he landed, the ladder atop him.2007, Allison Lane, The Duchess's Diary
   • The old pain knifed up from some cellar in his chest now and burned with an intensity he'd thought had burned itself out.2010, Lewis Perdue, Zaibatsu
9. (figuratively) To sit up or stand up suddenly.
   • I knifed up on the bed. Clean sober awake.2000, Peter F. Hamilton, A Second Chance at Eden
   • He knifed up, startled from a dream.2014, Glen Craney, The Yanks Are Starving
10. To rise precipitously.
    • Bond took a last gulp of breath and got going again, still left-handed, away from the cable railway, towards the next flag, a distant dot on the edge of the shadow thrown by the great Matterhorn-shaped peak of Piz Gloria, which knifed up into the spangled sky in dreadful majesty.1963, Ian Fleming, On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    • Above the trees and parallel to the line of darkness, everlasting Everest knifed up into the sky with dreadful majesty.2017, Keith Devine, Wilderness of Ice