SICKLE

sickle, reaping hook, reap hook

(noun) an edge tool for cutting grass or crops; has a curved blade and a short handle

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

sickle (plural sickles)

(agriculture) An implement having a semicircular blade and short handle, used for cutting long grass and cereal crops.

Any of the sickle-shaped middle feathers of the domestic cock.

Synonyms

• reap hook

• reaping hook

Coordinate terms

• scythe

Verb

sickle (third-person singular simple present sickles, present participle sickling, simple past and past participle sickled)

(agriculture, transitive) To cut with a sickle.

(transitive) To deform (as with a red blood cell) into an abnormal crescent shape.

(intransitive) Of red blood cells: to assume an abnormal crescent shape.

Adjective

sickle (comparative more sickle, superlative most sickle)

Shaped like the blade of a sickle; crescent-shaped.

Anagrams

• Eslick, ickles

Source: Wiktionary

Sic"kle, n. Etym: [OE. sikel, AS. sicol; akin to D. sikkel, G. sichel, OHG. sihhila, Dan. segel, segl, L. secula, fr. secare to cut; or perhaps from L. secula. See Saw a cutting instrument.]

1. A reaping instrument consisting of a steel blade curved into the form of a hook, and having a handle fitted on a tang. The sickle has one side of the blade notched, so as always to sharpen with a serrated edge. Cf. Reaping hook, under Reap. When corn has once felt the sickle, it has no more benefit from the sunshine. Shak.

2. (Astron.)

Definition: A group of stars in the constellation Leo. See Illust. of Leo. Sickle pod (Bot.), a kind of rock cress (Arabis Canadensis) having very long curved pods.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition