bodkin

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Meanwhile, the time is long past when the measure adopted by the Congress last week could be described as a bodkin in a fountain or a finger in a dike.

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Definitions (19)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. noun A small, sharply pointed instrument for making holes in fabric or leather.
  2. noun A blunt needle for pulling tape or ribbon through a series of loops or a hem.
  3. noun A long hairpin, usually with an ornamental head.

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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples (50)

  • She spoke of ruin coming to my play because of a bodkin, and she added that the said bodkin would be wielded by somebody called Mally… not Molly, mind you, and not Lally. —  SLEUTH’S ALCHEMY: Cases of Mrs. Bradley and Others - Gladys Mitchell
  • She said disaster would come through a bodkin, and it did. —  SLEUTH’S ALCHEMY: Cases of Mrs. Bradley and Others - Gladys Mitchell
  • (A bodkin is a tapered arrowhead, a dagger shaped like one, or even a large needle.) —  Economic Principals
  • Meanwhile, the time is long past when the measure adopted by the Congress last week could be described as a bodkin in a fountain or a finger in a dike. —  Economic Principals
  • Lat. brocca_, cf. the Latin adjective brochus or broccus_, projecting, used of teeth), a word, of which the doublet "brooch" (_q.v._) has a special meaning, for many forms of pointed instruments, such as a bodkin, a wooden needle used in tapestry-making, a spit for roasting meat, and a tool, also called a "rimer," used with a wrench for enlarging or smoothing holes (see TOOL). —  Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria"
 

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English boidekin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English also bodkine, botkin, boidken (cf. Scots boikin), from Middle English bodekyn, earlier boydekyn, boidekyn; origin unknown. The Celtic forms, Welsh bidogyn, bidogan (with accent on second syllable), diminutive of bidog = Gaelic biodag = Irish bideog, a dagger (cf. Welsh pid = Gaelic biod, a point), are not near enough to be regarded as the source of the English word.
 

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/ˈbɑdkɪn/
by American Heritage

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