bodkin
adverb
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L186958 on Wikidata ↗noun
- small pointed tool for piercing holes in cloth and for pulling laces or drawstrings
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈbɒdkɪn/
adv
Etymology: From Middle English boydekin (“dagger”), apparently from *boyde, *boide (of unknown [Celtic?] origin) + -kin. Cognate with Scots botkin, boitkin, boikin (“bodkin”).
- Closely wedged between two people.
“to sit bodkin”
“He's too big to travel bodkin between you and me.”
name
Etymology: Ultimately from the Middle Dutch personal name Bodekin, a pet form of Baldwin.
- A surname originating as a patronymic.
noun
Etymology: From Middle English boydekin (“dagger”), apparently from *boyde, *boide (of unknown [Celtic?] origin) + -kin. Cognate with Scots botkin, boitkin, boikin (“bodkin”).
- A small sharp pointed tool for making holes in cloth or leather.
- A blunt needle used for threading ribbon or cord through a hem or casing.
“As with compulsory Sunday worship, death for blasphemy was for the third offence. A bodkin, a large blunt needle, was thrust through the tongue for the second offence.”
- A hairpin.
“A rich, flushed colour—large black eyes—teeth that shone from their brilliant whiteness—a slender shape—and most minute feet, in such little shoes of Cordova leather—a silver chain round her neck, to which hung a medal of the Madonna—a dark-brown boddice and short skirt, relieved by a lacing of scarlet riband—long black hair, bound in one large plait round the head, and fastened by a silver bodkin.”
- A dagger.
“When he himſelfe might his Quietus make / With a bare Bodkin?”
“And he smote Corinius on his shaven jowl with the dice box, calling him cheat and mangy rascal, whereupon Corinius drew forth a bodkin to smite him in the neck withal; […]”
- A type of long thin arrowhead.
- A sharp tool, like an awl, formerly used for pressing down individual type characters (e.g. letters) from a column or page in making corrections.