razor

See also: Razor

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English rasour, from Old French rasour, from raser (“to scrape, to shave”). More at rat. By surface analysis, raze +‎ -or.

Displaced native Old English sċierseax (literally “shaving knife”).

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɹeɪzə/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɹeɪzɚ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Hyphenation: ra‧zor
  • Rhymes: -eɪzə(ɹ)

Noun

razor (plural razors)

  2. A keen-edged knife of peculiar shape, used in shaving the hair from the face or other parts of the body.
    Hyponyms: safety razor; straight razor, open razor, cut-throat razor (especially in the UK, New Zealand and Australia); disposable razor
  3. Any tool or instrument designed for shaving.
    Hyponyms: safety razor; electric razor; straight razor, open razor, cut-throat razor (especially in the UK, New Zealand and Australia); disposable razor
    • 2007 July 1, Jake Mooney, “For Aficionados of Shaving, la Crème de la Crème”, in The New York Times‎[1]:
      These are fellows who shun the three-, four- and five-blade contraptions and canned goops for an older mode of shaving that they insist remains the ideal: a straight razor or a safety razor with a double-edged blade, and a fine English cream lathered and applied with a badger-hair brush.
    • 2013, Robert L. Buyer, Ursula T. Coute, Following the North Star, page 26:
      The box was jam packed full o' gifts for each manjack of us: razors, aftershave, toothbrushes, an' books.
  4. The sharp tusk of a wild boar.
  5. (philosophy) A conceptual device that allows one to shave away unlikely explanations for a phenomenon.
    Occam's razor, Hanlon's razor

Derived terms

Terms derived from razor (noun)

Translations

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Translations to be checked

Verb

razor (third-person singular simple present razors, present participle razoring, simple past and past participle razored)

  1. (transitive) To shave with a razor.
    • 1868, George MacDonald, chapter 6, in Guild Court‎[2], volume 3, London: Hurst & Blackett, page 137:
      He thought likewise, that what with razoring and tanning, and the change of his clothes, he was not likely to be recognised.
    • 1996, George R. R. Martin, “Tyrion”, in A Game of Thrones‎[3], New York: Bantam, published 2016, page 641:
      Lord Tywin did not believe in half measures. He razored his lip and chin as well, but kept his side-whiskers, two great thickets of wiry golden hair that covered most of his cheeks from ear to jaw.
    • 2008 April 13, Sara Corbett, “Can the Cellphone Help End Global Poverty?”, in New York Times‎[4]:
      He might be busy examining the advertisements for prostitutes stuck up in a São Paulo phone booth, or maybe getting his ear hairs razored off at a barber shop in Vietnam.

Derived terms

References

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