switchblade
/ˈswɪt͡ʃˌbleɪd/
switchblade noun: a folding knife with a blade which opens automatically (under spring pressure) when a button is pressed.
Noun
switchblade (plural switchblades)
- A folding knife with a blade which opens automatically (under spring pressure) when a button is pressed.
Verb
switchblade (third-person singular simple present switchblades, present participle switchblading, simple past and past participle switchbladed)
- To attack or cut with a switchblade.
- I got terrible hangovers from the cheap booze; and, one night, I almost got switchbladed when I put my arm around the wrong "lady of the night.1987, Ron Rearick, Doug Murren, Iceman, →ISBN, page 53
- They are the American dream torn asunder, like clean fresh laundry left drying on the clothesline, switchbladed by bored boys of summer.2015, Paul Maher Jr., Caitlin Stuart, Love That Loves Us: Reflections on the Films of Terrence Malick, →ISBN
- To spring open or up.
- Switchblading open their silvery cell phones, they call their mortgage brokers and say “Buy.”2007, Richard Canning, Between Men: Best New Gay Fiction, →ISBN, page 253
- Steering and stabilization fins switchblading out, followed by the wings.2007, David Poyer, The Command: A Novel, →ISBN, page 190
- To (cause to) make a sudden move or transition.
- He briefly rocked medical school, switchbladed to accounting and finally joked his first radio script in 1938.1963, Cleveland Amory, Earl Blackwell, Celebrity Register
- The play's principal comic manoeuvre is to have concern switchblading into callousness.2002, Plays International - Volume 18, page 15
switchblade meaning in Thai
switchblade in Thai
- type of folding knife
- มีดสปริง, มีดพกสปริง
Examples of switchblade in a sentence
- Finally there was Jackie, the gold-toothed gang member (as she liked to remind us) who'd switchbladed thirty or forty or fifty people2016, Daniel Kraus, The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Volume Two: Empire Decayed, →ISBN:
- I stood there waiting for the three remaining Rottweilers to come barreling toward the fence, fangs switchbladed open.2009, Erik Raschke, The Book of Samuel: A Novel, →ISBN, page 200:
Forms of switchblade
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | switchblades |
| alternative form | switch blade |
| alternative form | switch-blade |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | switchblades |
| present participle | switchblading |
| past participle | switchbladed |
| past | switchbladed |
Origin of switchblade
From switch + blade.
Questions about switchblade
- What does switchblade mean?
- Switchblade means a folding knife with a blade which opens automatically (under spring pressure) when a button is pressed.
- What is switchblade in Thai?
- Switchblade in Thai is มีดสปริง, มีดพกสปริง. See Switchblade meaning in Thai.
- How do you use switchblade in a sentence?
- Finally there was Jackie, the gold-toothed gang member (as she liked to remind us) who'd switchbladed thirty or forty or fifty people
- What part of speech is switchblade?
- Switchblade can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce switchblade?
- Switchblade is pronounced /ˈswɪt͡ʃˌbleɪd/.
- What is the plural of switchblade?
- The plural of switchblade is switchblades.
Words near switchblade in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: switchblade (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-switchblade.wav.
Cite this entry: “switchblade.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/switchblade. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.