sharpener

English

Etymology

From sharpen +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃɑː(ɹ)pənə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Noun

sharpener (plural sharpeners)

1. A device for making things sharp.

   There was a pencil sharpener at the front of the classroom.

2. (figurative) That which makes something sharp.
   • 1795, Hannah More, The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain:

     “Sir,” said the shepherd, “poverty is a great sharpener of the wits. […]

   • 1872, Chambers's miscellany of instructive & entertaining tracts:

     The snuff-box, knife, and chicken-bones were again in requisition, and a pen was successfully formed. The ink, or at least its substitute, was rather more difficult, but necessity is always a sharpener of intellect, and even this was accomplished.

3. (informal) An alcoholic drink taken at the start of the day, or just before a meal.

Derived terms

• pencil sharpener

Related terms

• sharp

Translations

device for making things sharp

• Arabic: مِبْرَاة f (mibrāh), بَرَّايَة f (barrāya)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Assamese: জোঙালী (züṅali)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܡܲܚܪܦܵܢܝܼܬ݂ܵܐ f (maḥrpānīṯā)
• Basque: zorrozkailu (eu)
• Bulgarian: острилка f (ostrilka)
• Chinese: 磨削器
• Dutch: slijper (nl) m
• Esperanto: akrigilo, pintigilo
• Finnish: teroitin
• French: affûteuse (fr) f, aiguiseur (fr) m
• Galician: chaira (gl) f, aguzadoira (gl) f
• Georgian: სათლელი (ka) (satleli)
• German: Spitzer (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient: ὀξυντήρ m (oxuntḗr)

• Hebrew: מְחַדֵּד (he) m (mekhadéd)
• Hungarian: hegyező (hu), élesítő, élező, szerszámélező, fenőkő (hu)
• Italian: affilatrice f
• Japanese: とぎ器
• Khmer: ប្រដាប់សំរួច (prɑɑdapsɑmruəc)
• Korean: 가는 기구 (ganeun gigu)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: tûjker (ku) f, qelemtiraş (ku)

• Ladino: aguzador m
• Polish: temperówka (pl) f, strugaczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: apontador (pt), amolador (pt) m
• Romanian: ascuțitor (ro)
• Russian: заточник (ru) m (zatočnik) (zatochnik)
• Slovene: šilček (sl)
• Spanish: sacapuntas (es) m
• Swahili: kichongeo
• Tagalog: pantasa
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: kalem tıraşı
• Vietnamese: thợ mài dao kéo

Anagrams

• resharpen