razor blade

See also: razorblade and razor-blade

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɹeɪzə(ɹ) ˈbleɪd/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

razor blade (plural razor blades)

  1. A thin piece of steel with a sharp edge that can be fitted into a razor.
  2. A replaceable cartridge in which razor blades are set, fitted into a razor.
    Synonym: head (elliptically)
  3. (loosely) A thin interchangeable blade for a utility knife (especially, that of a Stanley knife) that is similar to a razor blade stricto sensu (in size, thinness, and sharpness).

Alternative forms

Translations

Verb

razor blade (third-person singular simple present razor blades, present participle razor blading, simple past and past participle razor bladed)

  1. (rare) Alternative form of razor-blade.
    • 1988, Certain High Intensity Retroreflective Sheeting, Inv. 337-TA-268, page 374:
      In the razor blade tests DeVries conducted the person who was razor blading it before cure was exactly the same person that was doing it after cure.
    • 1991, Rob Rachowiecki, Peru: A Travel Survival Kit, page 185:
      It's unlikely that anyone will razor blade your pack open inside a hotel, but light fingers may, occasionally, dip into unlocked luggage.
    • 2019, Simon Quail, Gangway: A Life at Sea, page ii:
      I was the last man aboard. The last to feel her as a living vessel before she became a steel hulk and was razor bladed.
    • 2020, Natan Sharansky, Gil Troy, Never Alone: Prison, Politics, and My People:
      To those of us living in democracies today, the image of my father sitting at home and razor blading out a page to glue in the newly updated replacement might seem ridiculous.