sickle
noun
- farm implement
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈsɪkl̩/
name
Etymology: Probably an Americanized form of German Sickel.
- A surname from German.
noun
Etymology: From Middle English sikel (also assibilated in sichel), from Old English sicol, siċel, from Proto-West Germanic *sikilu, itself borrowed from Latin sēcula (“sickle”) or sīcīlis (“sickle”). Cognate with Dutch sikkel, German Sichel. Remotely related with English scythe and saw.
- An implement having a semicircular blade and short handle, used for cutting long grass and cereal crops.
“Coordinate term: scythe”
“Lou's not Times foole, though roſie lips and cheeks VVithin his bending ſickles compaſſe come, Loue alters not with his breefe houres and vveekes, But beares it out euen to the edge of doome: If this be error and vpon me proued, I neuer vvrit, nor no man euer loued.”
- Anything resembling a sickle, especially:
- Anything resembling a sickle, especially:
“Then, ere the silver sickle of that month Became her golden shield, I stole from court With Cyril and with Florian, unperceived.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English sikel (also assibilated in sichel), from Old English sicol, siċel, from Proto-West Germanic *sikilu, itself borrowed from Latin sēcula (“sickle”) or sīcīlis (“sickle”). Cognate with Dutch sikkel, German Sichel. Remotely related with English scythe and saw.
- To cut with a sickle.
“Near-synonyms: reap, mow”
- Of red blood cells: to assume an abnormal crescent shape.
“Even the cells of heterozygotes will sickle if the oxygen tension is low enough.”
- To deform (as with a red blood cell) into an abnormal crescent shape, to cause to sickle.