dagger

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdæɡə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdæɡəɹ/
• Rhymes: -æɡə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: dag‧ger

From Middle English daggere, daggare, dagard, probably adapted from Old French dague (1229), related to Occitan, Italian, Spanish daga, Dutch dagge, German Degen, Middle Low German dagge (“knife's point”), Old Norse daggarðr, Danish daggert, Faroese daggari, Welsh dager, dagr, Breton dac, Albanian thikë (“a knife, dagger”), thek (“to stab, to pierce with a sharp object”).

In English attested from the 1380s. The ultimate origin of the word is unclear. Grimm^[1] suspects Celtic origin. Others have suggested derivation from an unattested Vulgar Latin *daca "Dacian [knife]", from the Latin adjective dācus.^[2] Chastelain (Dictionaire etymologique, 1750) thought that French dague was a derivation from German dagge, dagen, although not attested until a much later date).

The knightly dagger evolves from the 12th century. Guillaume le Breton (died 1226) uses daca in his Philippide. Other Middle Latin forms include daga, dagga, dagha, dagger, daggerius, daggerium, dagarium, dagarius, diga;^[3] the forms with -r- are late 14th century adoptions of the English word). OED points out that there is also an English verb dag (“to stab”) from which this could be a derivation, but the verb is attested only from about 1400.

Relation to Old Armenian դակու (daku, “adze, axe”) has also been suggested.^[4] Alternatively, a connection from Proto-Indo-European *dʰāg-u- and cognate with Ancient Greek θήγω (thḗgō, “to sharpen, whet”).

dagger (plural daggers)

2. (weaponry) A stabbing weapon, similar to a sword but with a short, double-edged blade.

   Synonyms: dirk, knife

   • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 34:

     The dagger, under the title cultellum and misericorde, has been the constant companion of the sword, at least from the days of Edward I. and is mentioned in the statute of Winchester.

4. (typography) The typographical mark †.

   Synonyms: obelisk, obelus

5. (American football, basketball) A point scored near the end of the game (clutch time) to take or increase the scorer's team lead, so that they are likely to win.

   His last-minute 3-point dagger silenced the criticism for his so-called failure to come up big in big moments.

• poniard
• rondel
• stiletto

dagger (third-person singular simple present daggers, present participle daggering, simple past and past participle daggered)

1. To pierce with a dagger; to stab.
2. (Jamaica) To perform the daggering dance.

Perhaps from diagonal.

dagger (plural daggers)

1. A timber placed diagonally in a ship's frame.
   • 1812, David Steel, The Elements and Practice of Naval Architecture:

     DAGGER. A piece of timber that faces on to the poppets of the bilgeways, and crosses them diagonally , to keep them together

• dragge, ragged