Stanley knife
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English
[edit]![](http://178.128.105.246/cars-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Stanley_quick-change_utility_knife.jpg/250px-Stanley_quick-change_utility_knife.jpg)
Etymology
[edit]From a brand name owned by the US tool manufacturer formerly known as Stanley Works; from Stanley (“surname”) + knife.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
[edit]Stanley knife (plural Stanley knives)
- (UK, Australia, New Zealand) A type of retractable utility knife with a replaceable blade.
- 1988, Dennis Sloan, The Twenty-Third Little Varmint, published 2005, page 126:
- Hotels expect to lose ashtrays, coat hangers and towels, for me it was Stanley knives. I didn′t mind a bit! If anyone bought a ₤35 a carpet, they were more than welcome to a 50 pence knife.
- 2002, Guy Rundle, “Up from the Dead”, in Peter Craven, editor, The Best Australian Essays 2002, page 187:
- […] the trams floating slowly down Swanston Street, paper-sellers cutting open bundles with Stanley knives, the smell of ground coffee from the downstairs cafe, […] .
- 2003, Anthony Hulse, Insanity Never Sleeps, Mediaworld, UK, page 30:
- He gripped his Stanley knife and swung open the door almost detaching it from its hinges.
- 2004, David Bret, Morrissey: Scandal & Passion, page 34:
- Manchester′s ‘golden boys’, Joy Division, had recently been devastated by the death of their singer, Ian Curtis: that good-looking, sad young man had made a spectacular exit by carving a smile on his face with a Stanley knife before hanging himself.
Synonyms
[edit]- (retractable utility knife): utility knife, boxcutter
Translations
[edit]utility knife — see utility knife