shiv

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See also: Shiv

English

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A Soviet-era Russian shiv.

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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First attested 1915. From chive, chieve, chife, chiv (“knife”), from Romani chive, chiv, chivvomengro (“knife, dagger, blade”).[1][2][3][4][5]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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shiv (plural shivs)

  1. A knife, especially a makeshift one fashioned from something not normally used as a weapon (like a plastic spoon or a toothbrush).
    Synonym: (slang) shank
    • 1971, Abbie Hoffman, “Introduction”, in Steal This Book, Pirate Editions / Grove Press:
      It's perhaps fitting that I write this introduction in jail—that graduate school of survival. Here you learn how to use toothpaste as glue, fashion a shiv out of a spoon and build intricate communication networks.
    • 2024 April 13, Jacob Bernstein, quoting Judith Regan, “When O.J. Simpson ‘Confessed’ to Murder”, in The New York Times‎[1]:
      Mr. Simpson finished “If I Did It” with the help of a ghostwriter, but after a public outcry, the book was shelved, and the woman who had agreed to publish it lost her job. “Basically, I got the shiv,” Ms. Regan said in a phone interview this week.
  2. A particular woody by-product of processing flax or hemp.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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shiv (third-person singular simple present shivs, present participle shivving or shiving, simple past and past participle shivved or shived)

  1. (transitive) To stab (someone) with a shiv.
  2. (transitive, by extension) To stab (someone) with anything not normally used as a stabbing weapon.

Synonyms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “shiv”, in Online Etymology Dictionary, retrieved 6 July 2017: “"a razor," 1915, variant of chive, thieves' cant word for "knife" (1670s), of unknown origin.”
  2. ^ “shiv”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present: “Alteration of chiv, of unknown origin. First known use: 1915”
  3. ^ “shiv”, in Collins English Dictionary, accessed 6 July 2017; from Michael Agnes, editor, Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th edition, Cleveland, Oh.: Wiley, 2010, →ISBN: “Word origin of 'shiv': earlier chiv, prob. < Romany chiv, blade”
  4. ^ “shiv”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022. "Probably from Romany chiv ‘blade’."
  5. ^ “shiv n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

Anagrams

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